Still Standing
by Ara Reed
Summary: Aaron is a retired assassin... at the age of 16! When you mix in Alex, K-Unit, and a new criminal organization bent on following in the footsteps of Scorpia, how will she handle herself? Not a romance. Rated M for lots of language... and violence... hehe.
1. The Beginning

**Yay!!! I'm so happy to get my first fanfic story out here!!! **

**This story is set as the ****second ****spy that the Americans try to use. That first kid was an experiment, to see if an untrained child could be a spy – like Alex Rider - now they're taking out the big guns. Her name is Aaron and she has a past of spy-like proportions. Only thing is… she hasn't really done anything in 3 years. Can she be America's god-send, or will she fall to the criminal organization known as the 'Watchmakers?'**

**I hope it's okay.**

**---------------**

_The little girl sat silently in the corner, tired and afraid. Her father was out there somewhere, behind the safety of the closet doors. She just hoped that he wouldn't come for her like he had her mother._

_A crash at the door of the bedroom told her that her fears were well founded, and that he was not yet done._

_"Stop, stop this!" The woman screamed, the girl could hear the words gurgle as she sobbed. A slap loud enough to be heard two floors up resounded about the apartment._

_"Shut up!"_

_"Stop!" She continued her pleading, then added "please," as he kicked her in the side. The girl could hear the boot connect with the woman's ribs. She huddled further into the wall, away from the fight. Another crash and she knew it was her turn. The girl willed that the door would never open, but it was something that she couldn't wish possible, something she couldn't stop._

_The door folded slowly away, revealing the woman on the floor. Her red polka-dot dress was messy with blood, both dried and wet. Long black hair disheveled under her head lay sprawled across the carpet. Legs swam into her vision, _his_ legs; dark boots, bootleg jeans, a plaid shirt. She tried not to look at his face, he hated that, but the dark red drew her eyes. The heat emanating from his brow was almost palpable, the red shading so bright that she wondered if he would blow up like the people on tv._

_If only she was so lucky._

_He grabbed her by the hair and tossed her across the room. Flung against the bed, she tried to escape; clawing at the material to get herself off the floor, but it was no good. He advanced on her too fast. He clung to her arm; she struggled against him, but to no avail. _

_He laughed, savoring her clawing as if he were all powerful. She was _his

_toy, and no one else's. The girl raked her fingernails down the man's forearm trying to make him let go. He just kept on laughing as if he was finally having fun._

_The loud bang of a door coming away from its hinges came from the living room of their apartment. Her father gave her a stern look, meaning for her to stay here. She would._

_He let go, but still pushed her back against the bed. She lay on the bed staring silently at the ceiling. She didn't cry, or even whimper. None of it seemed to matter much anymore, she didn't like it but she had resigned herself to it. It was a fact of life._

_What happened next was not. There was a boom in the other room, one that she had only heard on tv; a gunshot, followed by an injured cry. Then silence. The girl shot up, clambered along the sheets and threw them over herself, peaking out the end._

_Her mother was awakened by the gunshot. She gingerly picked herself up from the floor. Her bloody face turned to her partially visible daughter. It had disgust written all over it. She glared at her daughter as if to say, 'this is your fault,' then rushed out the door. She was met by a bullet._

_The girl didn't even hear the gun fire. She just saw the explosion of red that followed. Her mother's face was gone, red dust trailed out behind her, hitting the wall along with the slug. She froze, not even pulling the covers over her face when a figure walked into the doorway. Unmoving when the figure stepped over her mother's body, not even when it lifted the gun towards her._

---------------

Aaron's whole body jerked. She muttered a tired little 'ugh,' and pushed the dream from her mind, deciding that it was not the kind of thing she should be thinking about when she wakes up.

Tenderly she lifted herself from the bed, and looked around at her surroundings. The walls were white, the trim a dark hazel. Course linen sheets lay crumpled about the bed, thrown indiscriminately as she rested. There was a tv on a short dresser and an open door leading to a bathroom. That was about it. She was in a generic hotel room. How nice.

What _was_ nice, though, was the sweet smell of bacon. She didn't know who was making it, but _god_ did it smell good!

She made her way to a robe that was folded on the dresser and pulled it on over her tank top and her corona pajama pants. Then she left the room.

"Didn't even bother to brush your hair, did you?" Someone asked from the couch.

"Do I even know you?" She asked cynically, not liking the jab this early in the morning.

"Joe Sik, special agent with the FBI." He smiled happily. As if _that _meant anything!

"Ignore him, he's a pompous ass." A man in the corner laughed, he was sitting at a table playing cards. She had met him last night, his name was Drake Johnson. He was a good man, refreshing sense of humor, and apparently tired as crap. The bags under his eyes were dark purple and the words coming from his mouth were slowed and had a certain lull about them.

"Just because you beat me at cards doesn't mean you can insult me, Johnson." Joe said sullenly.

Aaron laughed at that, Joe obviously hadn't been here long.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cool your jets cowboy, I was just joking."

"Good morning Aaron."

The greeting, the only one she would probably get, came from the kitchen area. Bob Reddig popped his head around the corner of the wall that separated the kitchenette from the living room.

"Hi, Bob. How's the bacon?"

"You have BACON? You didn't tell me you had BACON!" Johnson yelled.

"Dude, don't you smell it?" Aaron asked.

"I can't smell anything." He said sadly, then sniffed to show them all what he meant.

"That sucks. Anyways, what happened last night?" Aaron asked the men.

"Nothing much. Played some cards, watched tv, ate massive amounts of pizza." Bob replied, he ticked each activity off on his fingers.

"I just got here, so I couldn't tell you what these two were really up to." Joe smiled, probably thinking of something dirty.

Aaron gave Bob a long look, ignoring Joe's remark. He'd changed since she had last seen him. It had only been a few months, but it felt like years. That's exactly how much Bob looked like he'd aged. Years.

Wrinkles were sprouting from under his slightly bulbous nose, his eyes were sunken, and his laugh lines were deeper and less defined. She didn't know what was causing this, but what was happening to her right now couldn't possibly be what was bothering him. _This_ was too low profile.

The armed guards, Joe and Johnson, and the fed friend, CIA agent William 'Bob' Reddig, were here to protect _her_. She had recently witnessed a drive-by shooting by one William Casey, who killed one Robert Smith. It happened approximately midnight last Thursday, and she would autonomously testify against him at two the next Friday. That would be tomorrow.

She was only slightly nervous about testifying, but she had somehow cut a deal with the DA so she could be presented as autonomous. It was still too dangerous to attract attention. She only had to go in front of the judge, say what happened, and leave. Just leave.

That's obviously not how it was going to happen, but still. How bad could it be? The government took anonymity very seriously, she knew that. But she also knew that unexpected things happened. Especially to her.

Aaron shook her head. It really was too early to be worrying about things like that. Bob was a hard working agent with the CIA; of course he would be worrying about _something_.

She stepped around a pizza box that was lying on the floor and made her way towards Bob.

Aaron swung herself around the divider that separated the kitchenette and the tv room, stepping on the cold tile floor. She was slightly distracted when the door beside Bob exploded inward.

Two men rushed in, guns held tight to their sides, shouting and gesturing dangerously. The first, covered in black and wearing a black ski mask struck poor old Bob over the head with the butt of his pistol, then ran to Joe. Joe already had his gun out, taking aim, but he stopped.

Aaron was already compromised.

When the second man had entered, he'd gone straight for her. He was dressed in normal clothing, jeans and t-shirt with a coat for the weather, but instead of a ski mask he only wore a pair of white sheared sunglasses. He couldn't have been any more generic, or any harder to identify.

Aaron tried to land a kick to his knee, hoping to knock him off balance, but he dodged it simply by taking a step back. The man pulled a knife from his belt and brandished it happily, enjoying the rainbow of colors that glinted off its polished surface. Aaron backed up into the wall, the man following her.

He lifted the blade to her throat. The young woman flattened herself, letting the robe drape off of her shoulders, and turned her head so that she could see the government agents straight on and her attacker from the corner of her eye.

"Message for Miss Voigt!" Ski mask cried, he sweeped his gun between his three prisoners, rounding them up in a group and making them kneel on the carpet with their hands behind their heads. He laughed.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. We know." Johnson sighed.

Bob stared at her, shaking his head 'no.' Aaron's eyes thinned in anger, she ignored him.

Aaron grabbed the man by the throat, quick as lightning, and shoved him back. Because she was so small compared to the man's massive muscle, he only stumbled, but it was enough.

Again, Aaron's speed caught the man by surprise. She grabbed his outstretched wrist and snapped it back, he released the knife, and she brought her knee up to his chin. He released the gun and, using his only good hand left, clutched his broken jaw. She continued back around with her foot, hitting him in the temple. He was out cold.

Aaron dipped low and scooped up the knife. It was a good blade, sturdy with a sharp tip, perfect for throwing.

The other man, having only gotten over his initial surprise, raised his gun, but whatever still lingered in his mind made the gun's ascent sluggish. He pulled the trigger before the gun had even finished its arc upwards. Three successive shots punched into the floor, but he was too slow.

Aaron threw the knife up, caught it by the blade, aimed, and threw it. The silver metal flew straight into his shoulder. He gave a shriek, and dropped the gun.

"Told you I didn't need a babysitter, Bob." Aaron sighed, the other two men were still kneeling with their hands behind their heads with looks of astonishment. They just couldn't believe it.

---------------

**Hello hello! It is so excellent to put the first page of my fanfic thingy up!!! I just hope you like it!!!**

**Please rate, and tell me if I need to do something (or not do something), also, would you tell me what you think about my pen name? I thought it was pretty sexy, what do you think?**

**If you review, include the names of your favorite fanfic authors, I'd love to read them.**

**----- Ara**


	2. Flippin' Out

MUAH HA HA HA HA!! My goal in life is to make you wait an immense amount of time for every little update. But really, no kidding, these updates will be SLOW. I just don't have that much time on my hands!! I have work, school, homework, and sleep… that's all I have time for. OH, and dollfins (synchronized swimming… I know it sounds dumb, but it really is fun).

Sorry about the long wait and the short chapter, but it's not my fault. I wrote this chapter, thought it sucked, deleted it, had writer's block, wrote it again, thought it was better, then sat on it for while, so I could go to work.

Work sucks.

So anyways… **disclaimer: Aaron is totally mine, Alex is not mine but I wish he was in more ways than one!!**

* * *

"Are you kidding me?" Aaron whispered through gritted teeth.

"Shut up Aaron." Bob whispered back angrily.

They were sitting in an office waiting for whoever it was that Bob had decided to take her to.

Probably a psychiatrist. He _had_ always said she needed one.

They had sat there, twiddling their thumbs for almost a half an hour not talking about the hotel room, or the unconscious and injured men that had quickly been dropped off at the hospital, when a man walked through the door. Aaron's first statement of 'are you kidding me' didn't bode well for the following conversation.

"Ah, Aaron." Joe Byrne took one look at her and sighed, shoulders slumped. "I had hoped you would come later today, Agent Reddig." He added turning tiredly to Bob. All the color had faded from the man's face and he looked worn out.

"Sorry, sir, but they already hit the hotel. There was really no other place to go." Bob stood, showing respect for his boss. Joe Byrne was the head of the Covert Action section of the CIA.

"What's going on here?" Aaron tapped her fingers angrily on the armrest of her chair, not looking entirely happy to see the man. She had been in this office once before, she was surprised she hadn't noticed it sooner, and that had been after she'd killed a triad. What could she say, the punk had tried to mug her!

Byrne sighed again, "As blunt as ever," he said rubbing his white tufted head. He paused. "It was all our fault…"

"It always is." Aaron added.

Byrne stared at her darkly. "… but we're fixing it. We were hoping that they wouldn't try this hard, but they're a stubborn group."

"Group?"

"The 'Watchmakers.' They're an organized unit of assassins up for hire."

"And why do they want me? Wait, how do they even _know_ about me?"

"That's why it's our fault." Byrne cringed. "Someone hacked into our database and stole a few of our files." Again he paused, obviously wishing he didn't have to say this. "They specifically stole _your_ files."

"And?" Aaron tried to look outwardly serene and still slightly angry, but inside she was filled with an uneasy feeling. That file said almost nothing, the government didn't even know everything about them, but any half-assed criminal organization knew the stories of the infamous Nemiah Children (1), and everything special about her coincided with them. An agent of that caliber and known infamy would be a crime lord's wet dream. It wasn't a comfortable situation.

"It was just a random hit, they probably didn't even know about you beforehand. They just went fishing in our network… and caught a big one. Anyways, the person sold the information to a new group called the 'Watchmakers' who are currently recruiting."

Aaron's eyes thinned. "Recruiting?" She asked slowly, the impact sinking in slowly. "They're coming after me… _to hire me_?" She screamed, the panic that she was feeling inside suddenly swam to the surface.

"Yeah." Bob said.

"Why didn't you tell me this earlier? It would have saved time, money, and I could've gotten someone to fix it! I still know people you know!" Now that Aaron was panicking, she couldn't stop rambling. It seemed like every word she said made her feel better. She hadn't said nearly enough words though, because she was still far from okay. "And what was that _shit_ about a drive-by?"

"You bought it didn't you?"

"So." She yelled. Aaron suddenly turned on Byrne. "What kind of director are you? Letting people hack into your systems like stealing pie from an empty bakery (2)! Tricking children into believing your sick twisted little stories! And just being a complete ass!" She added cooly.

Someone outside the office door knocked. A young woman stepped in. "Sir, Mr. Rider is here. Is everything… okay, in here, because there's been a lot of screaming."

"Everything's fine, Stephanie. Send him in."

* * *

(1) I'll get to that later in the story, probably much later, so don't ask.

(2) Inferring that there are no people in the bakery… there's plenty of pie. Mmmm, pie P …runs off to eat pie… and cheese… cheesecake… STRAWBERRY CHEESECAKE!!

KUDOS to…

**Lavalata**… I wasn't originally going to have Alex in this fic, but then I realized how much fun I could have tormenting Alex with Aaron's moodiness!! Besides, this is 'fan' fiction.

**SheWeapon1**… MY VERY FIRST REVIEWER!! I LOVE YOU!! Well, maybe not, but still… thank you! And I'm so glad that someone liked my pen name. When I made it, I thought that more people would have actual _names_, not Anonymous-chic, or Ashadowofwings. Oh well.

(P.S. Everyone should read Ashadowofwings' story Operation Protect Cub. It's excellent.)

(P.S.S. Sooooooo sorry for the short chapter, but at least you have this little morsel. CRAP… I think my author's note is longer than the chapter!!)

(P.S.S.S. _**REVIEW**_, right now.)


	3. Not Interested

Hello again!!

This is another installment of my _only_ fanfic, Aaron (of which I totally need to find a better name for, any suggestions?). And again, it's really short.

The only reason that I have it up _now_ is that I was awesomely sick yesterday, so I'm home from school today. I hurled 5 effin' times yesterday!! BEAT THAT, SICK PEOPLE!! (heavy drinkers need not respond to that)

So anyways… **disclaimer: Aaron is totally mine, Alex is not mine but I wish he was in more ways than one!!**

* * *

"_Everything's fine, Stephanie. Send him in."_

* * *

Byrne said, rubbing his face in embarrassment. At least Aaron had the good sense to look apologetic… at least, for a second. That quickly ended when she heard about Rider.

The second the young woman left, Aaron glared darkly at Byrne again. "OH HELL NO! I know who Rider is, that's MI6's new 'secret weapon.' You are not dragging me on one of his missions, or whatever you're thinking, Byrne. _NO_!"

The door opened again, and a young man walked through. He had blonde hair, and even though his hooded sweatshirt covered his torso, she could tell that underneath his muscles were well toned. His eyes had a hard cold quality, and he looked nearly as happy to be here as Aaron did.

Of course she hadn't expected him to be quite so… pretty (1).

"Alex isn't here to go in _with_ you, he's here to go in_ for_ you. You haven't been in the limelight for a while, and we guessed you didn't want to be again. He's here to take them on in your place." Byrne straightened a little when Alex entered and a small smile appeared on his face. He suddenly didn't look so tired.

Apparently, Byrne liked playing with Aaron's pride. But Aaron didn't actually care, as long as she didn't have to _do_ anything.

"Fine." She said happily, her dark demeanor lifting. And she _was_, perfectly, fine with the new situation.

"Ah, so sorry Alex!" Byrne said, as if he had suddenly remembered him. "Alex, this is Aaron and Agent Reddig. Aaron, Reddig, this is Alex Rider."

"Hello." Alex said awkwardly. All Aaron could think was… OH MY GOD HE HAS AN ENGLISH ACCENT… (2) not exactly an objective thought about the guy who was going to save her from certain emotional scarring.

"Hello." Aaron replied. A smile splayed across her face as she shook his hand.

* * *

_She shook his hand, trying to keep her hand as firm as her three year-old fingers would allow. She had learned to shake from one of the older boys in the small, cold little orphanage on the edge of the city of Moscow. _

_The man seemed pleased by her heavy handed shake._

_There were only five children in the line standing before him, only one stood out._

"_What is your name?" The man said stiffly._

"_Does that matter, sir?" She answered, sad little eyes searching his face. Her high-pitched young voice rang within the silent room._

_He was taken aback by the child's response and even more so by the look she gave him. She was reading his reactions, at only five. Even he was a little creeped out by the child._

"_No. I suppose it doesn't." He was uncomfortable, she noticed. He was twitching. She lightened her mood._

"_It's Aaron, sir."_

"_Your last name." The stiffness was once again back on his face._

"_Voigt." This time she neglected to say sir, wondering what he would do. He did nothing. Instead, he walked to the next child, whose blank face he found disconcerting. After a few more quick exchanges, he walked back to the owner of the foster home. They whispered for a few moments, then he finally came to a decision._

"_Voigt, you will come with me."_

* * *

She woke up fairly pissed off. The dreams were coming back, she was catching a cold, and work had called her at seven in the morning to call her in early. Aaron didn't want to get up early, especially to go work at Burger King.

It had been about a week since she had let Alex take her place. A few days after the boy had left she had started to feel a little guilty. She wasn't quite able to delude herself into thinking that Alex had chosen to take this assignment on his own accord, after all, rumor had it that he'd been blackmailed into the life in the first place. Yet she still hoped he was okay, which is why she was so shocked to see the sticky-note left on her milk carton.

The innocent little note said:

_Interested?_

"Not really," she muttered. It could only have been from these 'Watchmaker' people, they were the only ones that knew.

She picked up the milk jug, at arm's length because she didn't want to be infected with the _evil_ that was the bright yellow little sticky-note, and walked out the door, and to her car.

If they were suddenly 'interested' in her again, what had become of Alex? What could they have done to him?

Aaron slid into the driver's seat, setting the milk jug in the passenger seat. She sat for a moment, trying to figure out what she was going to do. Byrne probably wasn't still in the city, but someone would most likely be in his place. Well, she would just have to shove her milk in _their_ face.

There was a quick knock on her window. She turned to see a man, fist poised to attack. He let his arm loose, his knuckles slamming through her driver side window. Aaron only had time to put a hand up to stop the fist from slamming through _her_. But his other hand came right after the first, catching her in the face. Her head spun around and she slumped over the center panel, unconscious.

* * *

(1) Remember, physical attraction is different from emotional. This is not a romance story, Aaron is just naturally bi-polar (and female, and what female wouldn't like a go at Alex Rider, or Alex Pettyfer). (he he)

(2) Like I said... bi-polar and female

So yeah… review, **NOW!!**

Oh yeah, tell me your most horrible sickness stories, it might make me feel better…

and thank you Sheweapon1, you are still my most awesome reviewer.


	4. Help Not Wanted

I AM SO PISSED!! Some bitch threw her money at me in the drive-thru last Friday! I didn't do shit to her!! If you know someone like this, you should kick them in the face for me. Trust me, it'll make you feel better.

But there is one thing to be happy about, I've cut back on hours so that I _only_ work on Fridays. Now I get to write more!! And to celebrate I have written this, regular sized entry, and for once I am proud of it. I still think that my other chapters suck, but I like this one.

So anyways… **disclaimer: Aaron is totally mine, Alex is not mine but I wish he was in more ways than one!!**

* * *

Alex stood at the corner of his street, getting ready to walk his bike up the hill. He was fit enough to make the long slope, but he wasn't feeling up to it today. He hadn't had the energy to since Jack had been attacked, and he'd had a particularly bad day at work. Some old crone had yelled at him because her coupon for milk had expired _three months_ ago.

The last two weeks had worn him out, both mentally and physically. First the business in America, he had been all set to go on another mission (not excited about it, but ready nonetheless), but then word that Jack had been injured got back to him. He had refused outright to continue the mission until he had seen her, amazingly the Americans let him go.

Injured had been a gross understatement. Jack had two broken ribs, a fractured femur and wrist, and a concussion. Not to mention bruises that rivaled some of Alex's worst.

For the last week he had stayed in the hospital with her, not able to leave her alone at night. She had protested that Alex needed to get some better rest, since he had to sleep in the armchair in her room, so that he could function well in school, ect. He'd pretty much droned her out by then, not wanting to hear a word of it. It was his fault that she had been attacked (he was positive it had been Scorpia), and he would accept the responsibility for her well-being… even if at any moment a black BMW could approach him on the sidewalk and someone would step out and tell him he had unfinished business in America.

It didn't matter that he had been late to school every day this week, or that he had slouched off at work, he had to stay with Jack right now. If only to show her that he could take care of her too. Alex hadn't been able to ignore that every time he had been injured Jack had been there to dote on him, though she had been careful not to smother him.

Well, _Alex_ was going to smother Jack to the very last convenience. If Jack wanted a cup of water, then she would get it; if she wanted a hand-woven rug from Sweden to brighten up her hospital room, then Alex would go on eBay and get it within six to eight business days. It wasn't everyday that Alex got to take care of Jack and he was going to make the most of it until he had to go back to the CIA.

He had finally made it to the top of the hill, not even out of breath. He got back on his bike and rode the rest of the block to his home. It was a Saturday and he had about four months of homework to do, that coupled with Jack's untimely ass kicking, he had decided to do his homework at the hospital.

Alex walked up to his garage, wary of anything out of place. He hated it how he felt scared even when he was at home. Nothing was wrong, so he shoved his bike in the garage and went into the house.

"Ahh!" He yelled, instantly clamping a hand back over his mouth feeling both scared and embarrassed because his scream had sounded kind-of girly. He covered himself by yelling, "What the hell are _you_ doing here?"

A tired, and still half-asleep, Wolf was laying across the stairs leading to the second level of the house. Alex hadn't seen him since Point Blanc, and he had hoped he never would again but that didn't look like it would be happening.

"That brat _finally_ here, Wolf?" Someone yelled from the kitchen, they sounded suspiciously like Eagle.

"Yuh." Wolf sat up, resting his head in his hand as he yawned. "What took you so long, cub?"

Alex ignored him, storming to the kitchen. There stood Eagle and Snake, happily eating through the contents of Alex's fridge. Ben Daniels, the last member of K-Unit who was codenamed 'Fox,' was seated at the table looking rather apologetic. "Why?" Alex asked, staring angrily at Ben.

"You didn't get the message, Alex?" He asked back.

"Course' he didn't, Fox. The kid is seven hours late!" Snake replied, stuffing more and more Trix into his big mouth.

"Yeah, where have you been?" Eagle asked, looking as though he hoped Alex would crawl back. Maybe Eagle was pissy because he hadn't eaten enough, though that was slightly unbelievable since there were three tubs of ice cream lying beside him, a bread bag, and a package of ham. All of which had been full the last time Alex had been home (three days ago), and were now empty.

"At the hospital." Alex said, still dazed and confused. How did the whole unit from _hell_ come to be in his home? That included the member that quit the unit for MI6, Ben Daniels.

"Again? Jeez kid, first appendicitis, now what?" Snake asked, looking about half-way between Eagle's downright hostility and Fox's ultra-guilty demeanor. As far as Alex could tell, he had only eaten a can of soup and was currently working on a hot pocket and a whole box of Trix. The man shoved his hand back into the box to grab more.

"Not me, my housekeeper. She was attacked a week ago, that's why I didn't get the phone message. I haven't been home for three days." Alex walked to the table, sat down and put his head in his hands.

"You okay?" Ben asked, remembering the kid's last mission. He had heard some of the gossip about his godfather, it couldn't have been good for the kid's mental health.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that? How's the arm?" Alex twisted his head to look at the man's right shoulder, it was still heavily bandaged. He couldn't help having a flashback of the last time he had seen Daniels. He had been lying in a puddle of his own blood, motionless and facedown, with a bullet wound in his lower shoulder.

"That is why I am here! I'm on injury, so I had a choice of paperwork… or you. You sounded more interesting. Besides, I love America. It's just so _big_."

"Yeah, you like a lot of things _big_ don't you Fox." Eagle teased.

"Oi!" Ben yelled looking particularly green.

"So anyways Cub, we're your new _backup_." Snake interjected before the line of conversation could turn any dirtier.

"I've never had backup before." Alex said constructively, his tone suggesting he didn't want any at the moment.

"Well you see, Blunt and Byrne had a row over you. So Blunt wants you protected while you're with these 'Watchmaker' types." He turned Snake. "I heard they're as bad as Scorpia. Can't really imagine that."

Alex winced slightly at the mention of Scorpia and absently scratched his still healing bullet wound. He looked over at Ben who mouthed 'they don't know.' Luckily the two were still bickering about Scorpia and the latest gossip about the Watchmakers.

"Bit of a dumb name, 'Watchmakers.'" Snake said.

"I hear it's because they leave watches on their targets, which is not all that smart, leaving something behind. With all this forensic stuff these days, you could get caught."

"Yeah, but even if they did get something, which I doubt, you would still have to match it. These assassins today don't even exist, you know? They just _erase_ themselves!"

"I heard that Dr. Three left Scorpia and made straight for 'em. They say that they got the most amazing gadget department, with an emphasis on torture because of him. Guess you can't blame him, after 'Invisible-Sword' and that Royal Blue business, Scorpia isn't looking so hot."

Alex cringed inwardly. Daniels was still looking apologetically at him, hoping that neither of his former teammates noticed Alex's reactions.

"Yep, D-Unit ran into one of his inventions. Bit sad they all died, really. Blown to pieces they said." Snake looked down at the hot pocket he was eating.

Alex buried himself further into his hands. He really hadn't wanted to hear that.

"Shut it you guys, you're freakin' out Alex!" Ben cut in sharply.

"I don't envy you kid." Eagle said, this time there was a little sympathy in his voice, but Alex didn't look up to see his face.

"I'm going to take a shower!" Alex said quickly and bolted for the stairs, passing a still recovering Wolf. Alex was sure he must have been hung over.

As he ascended he heard Snake ask accusingly, "So, how do you know the brat's name, and how did he know about your arm?"

And the last thing he heard before he reached his room was Ben answering back, "He's not a brat, his name is Alex, or you can call him Cub! And the rest is strictly classified." Alex smiled.

* * *

"Okay, so what's happening again?" Alex asked. He had spent the last twenty minutes upstairs, trying to wake himself up since he didn't want to face K-Unit with a muddied mind. A cold shower, fresh clothes, a call to Jack, nothing had really worked. So he traipsed downstairs, hair still dripping wet, to find K-Unit in deep discussion at his kitchen table.

"You are going back to America, little man, and we're going with you to make sure you don't get into any more trouble." Snake said. Alex wondered just how much Snake knew about the trouble _he_ could cause. Ben's warning glance suggested that the only mission they knew about was Point Blanc, and even then they didn't know the half of what he'd been through in that boarding school. He shivered at the thought of being disected alive and awake.

Alex suddenly realized how hard it was going to be, keeping such a big secret from K-Unit when he couldn't even suppress a shudder. And if they kept referring to his past missions so nonchalantly it was going to get even tougher.

Ben cut in, finally shifting his glance from Alex to the table's wooden surface. "Complications have occurred with the target. Aaron Voigt was kidnapped yesterday, no one has heard from her yet." He paused. "The initial aim of the mission was to draw attention from Voigt onto you, but since you had family trouble and had to return to London, we couldn't plant you fast enough. The goal now is to get the two of you to be partnered into the Watchmaker's training program. You watch out for her, she watches out for you."

"First you have to find her though, right?" Alex said, more than a little worried. He had hoped that he could have prevented the creation of another teen spy. He would rather suffer than let someone else take up his slack. He didn't like being sent on all those missions, but he couldn't stand the thought of someone else being hurt the way he had.

"We're assuming it is the Watchmaker's trying to get in contact with her. But don't worry about her, she's had more experience with these types than you and me put together. She knows what she's doing. _You_ on the other hand only have limited experience with criminal organizations, so you should learn as much as you can about the target… and your ally." Ben slid a thin file across the table.

Alex had been leaning against the entry to the kitchen, so he walked forward and sat down on the only available seat left along the table's edge. He flipped to the first page. A picture of the girl he had met in Byrne's office sat smiling back at him, along with a few quick facts about her. Favorite color was black, favorite movie was Twister and the Die Hard series, favorite bands were; 32 Leaves, DC Talk, and Blindside, and her favorite author was Cassandra Clare. She had good tastes at least.

He turned to the next page. Three small paragraphs summed up her life since her immigration from Russia. It had been five years since then. At the end were three small words. 'Unresponsive to interrogation.'

"The rest of her file is so highly classified that not even I can read it." Ben explained.

"What does 'unresponsive to interrogation' mean?" Alex asked, feeling a little uneasy.

"Apparently she knows something the CIA wants to know very much, but she's not saying. She sounds pretty creepy if you ask me, standing up to CIA specialists. Those people train at torturing people, you know!" Ben's voice raised in wonder.

Alex suddenly didn't want anything to do with this crazy scheme. An organization that rivaled Scorpia, even though it had only existed for a few _months_, a girl that according to her file didn't exist until she was eleven, and a crazed group of SAS men that were bent on ruining his life since the day he'd met them! Not to mention the fact that he was even _going_ on a mission, barely two weeks after he had finally gotten back to school.

This was going to be insane.

* * *

For the first time since she had met Alex, Aaron was having a relatively normal dream. If a giant monster chasing down an ever shrinking Alex could be considered relatively normal. Poor Alex.

Something loud coincided with her dream, but she was too out of it to recognize it as an external source. It blended seamlessly with the action that was taking place in her mind.

Three deep notes resonated there, over and over again. The monster's footsteps suddenly switched, matching the beat. Someone screamed "Oww, ow, ow, ow." Alex's mouth formed the words, though his lips were a little slow. But what finally woke her up was a deep bass that replaced the first note of the beat.

Her head twitched to the side unconsciously. The pain in her neck and cheek resounded about her face, making the twitch into a spasm of pain.

She could hear the music now, since it was no longer part of her dream. Three quick, muffled notes played over and over again made up the beat. A man was screaming softly "ow, ow, ow," and someone was breathing awkwardly in the background.

Aaron gave a little "ow" of her own and quietly sat up. The song was coming from speakers that were recessed into the wall. It was an interesting song to wake up to, but the beat was good and so far it wasn't about having sex, so it was all fine with her.

"_Don't fret precious, I'm here_.

_Step away from the window_."

At first Aaron thought someone was speaking to her, but when the echo of 'step away from the window' came she knew it was only the song.

"_Go back to sleep. _

_Safe from pain… and truth… and choice_."

Aaron suddenly wondered if her captors were trying to tell her something.

She got to her feet and examined the room. It was completely bare, not a piece of furniture in sight. Its white walls seemed to suffocate her, the only relief from the lack of color were the black boxes on the wall that were the speakers. Aaron couldn't imagine what the room was for, but the ominous feeling she got from it and the cold hard shapes and edges gave her the chills. She hugged herself.

"_See, they don't give a fuck about you._

_Like I do_."

She had stopped listening to the song, so she had missed a line.

"_Counting bodies like sheep, _

_counting bodies like sheep to the rhythm of the war drums_."

Now _that_ line gave her the creeps.

She tuned out the music, which was finally getting to her. Walking up to the door, she could tell that it was locked. She could see the dead-bolt even from this side of the door jam. No sense trying to pick a lock you can't get to. There were no other doors, nor any windows, and the only vent was too small to put her head through, much less her entire body.

Aaron glanced at the lock again, but came to the conclusion that there was no way out of the room other than breaking down a wall or someone unlocking the door for her. She was just about to take her shoe to the drywall when a barely audible click came from the lock. The door opened.

Thankfully the music cut out, someone had the mercy to turn it off. It was an excellent song, but not the most uplifting when you were kidnapped and left stranded in a room that would make anyone feel a little insane. The person who walked through the door didn't help with the whole sanity thing though.

"You." She groaned in a 'should-have-known' sort of way. "I thought you didn't have clearance to leave Russia, Kov."

"Well, I tend to get around that." The older man said gleefully.

"How?"

"By leaving the country of course!" He laughed. "Can't arrest me if I'm not there!"

"Finally shed the restraints of the Motherland, eh?" She referred to the almost unbreakable patriotism that had been born in her to the 'Motherland,' or Russia. She had shaken the bonds that had tied her, she thought maybe he had too.

"Not quite. I still miss her, but I think I can manage the rest of my days without the comfort of her embrace." He smiled sadly, then shook his head. "Such eloquent speech for a girl so young, why the interest?"

The man's western heritage clashed badly with his Russian accent. Black hair, wrinkled skin, and face known to most as Major Kirst Kovinoff, he was a man you didn't mess with.

"Just haven't seen you in a while." Aaron said, letting a touch of sentimentality creep into her voice.

"Don't kid yourself dear, we both know we didn't want to meet again. Doing so would mean that you would be back in the 'game.' Well, the time has come. You can't hide forever." Again he smiled, but this time it was knowingly. She couldn't help but feel like this man was like a grandfather to her, even though he had nearly killed her once. She wondered if Alex had these kinds of problems.

"No. I suppose I can't." She whispered to herself.

The man turned to leave and Aaron quietly followed him.

They walked out into the hall, which was a little more colorful than the room they had left. The walls were the same pristine white, but the floor tiles were more beige, whereas the room had had concrete painted the same white as the walls.

"What are you doing here, Kov? I thought you would have been comfortable enough back in Russia. Face it, you're not as young as you used to be." Aaron asked, calmly following the man through the maze of corridors.

"I am working with that man, Dr. Three, developing weapons for a new organization. It is true that I was comfortable, but it simply did not feel right to sit about. I may be old, but I am not useless!" He said rather forcefully, and Aaron believed him. He was definitely old, maybe a little evil, and a pain in the ass if you're on the other side, but never useless.

"Dr. Three? Didn't he work for Scorpia?"

"I see you are still well informed, my dear." He glanced slyly at her.

"I keep in touch with a few people, gather favors where I can." Aaron threw her hair out of her eyes, ignoring the surprised look in his eye.

"Yes, he did, he doesn't anymore though. Scorpia has disbanded. Your friend Alex Rider saw to that. He killed nearly half of its leaders, and after getting beaten by a child, the demand for their services fell sharply. They couldn't take the strain and decided to get out while they could." He was still watching her to see if any of the information surprised her. None of it did, except maybe the part about Dr. Three. She must be _very_ well informed.

"So who does he work for now? Who do you work for?" She asked.

"The Watchmaker's of course. They have picked up where Scorpia left off." This did seem to surprise Aaron though.

"I thought I made it clear that I didn't want to join." She said crossly, realizing that they were the only people who would bother to pick her up.

"Well, you haven't much choice my dear. I'm afraid the word is out, you aren't the big bad secret anymore. Everyone knows." The last two words sent a chill up and down her spine. _Everyone knows._ Kov had said it for a reason, and Aaron knew just what that was. In the early days, back when she was still in Russia, she had made a lot of enemies. A lot of very angry, very powerful enemies. If they knew, and she didn't have support from some sort of group, she would be dead in no time.

"We already had to wrestle you from Major Stone's own hands, you know." He continued, ignoring her worried expression. "He never forgave you for murdering his leader."

"Didn't expect him to." Aaron had wondered why the man who had attacked her had looked familiar. It had been Major Stone, a German soldier who had been part of the surviving Nazi party. Aaron had been the person of choice for the hit that had taken their leader from them.

"Whoever sold your whereabouts obviously didn't stop with us, though it does give us a good reason to bring you aboard. We will protect you Aaron, you need us, and for once you can't take this on, on your own." Again he flashed her that grandfatherly smile. He looked good natured now, but Aaron could remember a time not so long ago that that smile had turned rather wicked and he had held a knife to her neck.

Ugh. She pushed the memory from her mind and ignored the sudden urge to strangle the old man. Summoning the courage to speak again, she asked, "And what do they want with me?"

"They need a new assasin, of course. I told them you were the best of the best."

Aaron stopped dead in her tracks, a look of shock on her face. "I can't." She whispered, shaking her head in denial. "I won't go back."

"We'll see about that." A voice came from behind her, its owner laying a bony hand on her shoulder.

* * *

Yeah… who says I stick to Alex? It's a lot easier to write about him. Don't get me wrong, imma develop Aaron and reveal her big bad secret in time (by the way, this chapter dropped so many hints about her past life that it's not even funny), but I find that I write better with Alex. What do you guys think?

p.s: why do people insist on calling chapters 'chappies?' It is really annoying.

p.s.s: _**REVIEW NOW!!**_

p.s.s.s: no one ever told me what to do with the name of the story, any suggestions because I'm not so good at that kind of thing.

p.s.s.s.s: _**REVIEW NOW!!**_

Thank you!!


	5. Hissy Fits

Guess what? It's another chapter!! Though I have a few things to get out of the way before I start.

1. I changed the name from 'Aaron' to 'Still Standing,' I thought it sounded better.

2. The song from the last chapter was 'Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rythm of the War Drums' by A Perfect Circle. I know it is a creepy song, but it was a creepy circumstance so I used it. I do recommend their songs 'The Noose,' and 'Passive' though.

3. I didn't thank anybody last chapter, so here goes:

SheWeapon1 : I did get better, but I managed to drag out my NOT going to school for a few days. Being sick can be bliss, except when you throw up five times in a single day.

BrazeRancor: I KNOW!

Now that that is done with...

4. Yes, I did change the spelling of Neihmi, this way looks much cooler!!

5. Thank you for reading this...

and 6. **disclaimer: I do not own Alex, K-Unit, or any other of Anthony Horowitz's characters. If I did, then, well... I wouldn't have this slow ass computer.**

* * *

"We should get going, Alex. We're almost an hour late to our appointment with the Americans and we're still in London. I'll brief you better on the way." Ben said, grabbing a jacket from the back of his chair.

"Can we stop by the hospital first, I'd like to tell Jack good-bye." Alex looked down at his shoes, not wanting the others to see the look in his eye.

"Call her, we have to go." Eagle chucked his cell phone at Alex, who barely caught it in time to avoid a bleeding lip.

"Please." He looked up at his unit. "She gets worried when I'm away, the least I can do is say good-bye in person."

"Fine. It's on the way anyways." Ben said, throwing the phone back at Eagle (who didn't catch it) accompanied by a warning look. Alex had enough to worry about without these guys messing up what family he had left. He walked down the hall, stopping at the stairs to haul Wolf to his feet, and then they were all out the door and walking down the street.

"Tell me we aren't walking all the way to the hospital." Alex exclaimed. There wasn't a car in sight, much less one that could carry five people, three of which were the size of two people put together. Fox was a little on the small side compared to the rest, and Alex… well Alex was fourteen, and the whole growth spurt thing hadn't quite set in yet.

"Don't worry, we parked around the block." Ben smiled. "I figured you would run off if you saw a strange car parked in your driveway."

"Good thinking," was all Alex said. He probably would have too, and he never would have returned had he known who the car belonged to.

True to his word, the SUV was parked right around the corner, hidden by a house. It was an 06' black Lincoln Navigator. Not too shabby.

"Nice." Alex nodded his head in approval. Eagle and Snake both smiled.

"Yeah, Fox requisitioned it for us." Snake laughed.

"Nice to have a man in the higher ups." Eagle added, throwing an arm around his former teammate's shoulders, careful to avoid his wound.

"I'm not the only one with rank here." Ben's smile was secretive.

"Wolf isn't that important." Snake playfully pushed the bigger man off the sidewalk. Wolf fell over. "Whoops." He bent to help him up.

"Not Wolf, he's just an SAS unit leader. I was talking 'bout Cub."

"I've rank?" Alex asked shocked, he had been sure that MI6 had just erased him completely.

"Yeah, you're higher up than I am. You didn't know?"

"No."

"Oh, well you're Secret Agent Rider, that's your title. I'm still Junior Agent, after all I've only been on for a few months."

"So has the kid, he was at Brecon Beacons only what, seven or eight months ago? What have you been doing Cub?" Snake asked, astonished.

"Nothing!" A fourteen year old voice squeaked.

* * *

Whoever it was looked over her shoulder and addressed Kov. "You may leave us now, I heard the Doctor needed you in Lab 3."

Kov bowed his head in respect, but before he turned to leave he flashed a warning glance at Aaron. He hadn't done that since… well, he'd never done that. Something was wrong.

"I would recommend you not do that." She said.

"Do what?" His voice was steady, a hint of happiness pulling at the words.

"The 'sneaking up on me and putting your hand on my shoulder' thing, I could have hurt you." She smiled slyly as she said it.

He laughed. "They said you would be interesting, but I never thought a trained assassin could be so amusing. But we aren't hiring you for your personality, we're hiring you for your skills. Therefore we need to test them to make sure they are up to standard." Keeping his hand on her shoulder he walked around to face her, bending slightly to look her in the eye.

"Funny, I don't remember filling out a resume. You must have your child assassins mixed up, because I'm not looking for work." She said, pushing past him. The way he had bent down to her, it made her feel like a five year old. She was hardly that young, and she hardly thought it appropriate to make her feel that way.

"A Neihmi, turning down a job? That is so unlike you." He teased.

She stopped mid-step. "I'm not Neihmi anymore, I ran for a reason."

"I don't remember the running part." He said innocently. "Was that before, or after they found the bodies?"

"Obviously you've heard wrong."

In a single quick movement he drew a long sword from his back. It swung through the air aiming for her unprotected midriff, ready to slice across her side. It stopped long before it could connect. Aaron's open palm was blocking the blade, the hard bones of her hand keeping the steel at bay. Blood ran like water down the shaft of the curved sword, dripping off the handle.

"I'm never wrong."

"Michal!" A voice reprimanded him. "Sheath your blade immediately." It said dangerously. He did as it said, though his expression stayed the same, cold and bloodthirsty. "I am sorry for his rash action, it will not happen again."

Aaron turned around, ignoring the blood dripping down her fingertips. The voice was coming from a woman, dressed completely in white. She was beautiful, her olive skin, soft features, well proportioned body. She was wearing a short white dress, and white stiletto heels, paired with a silver and diamond necklace. She held out a piece of white cloth that she had pulled from the white, diamond studded purse that hung from her shoulder.

Aaron gently took the cloth and pressed it to her palm, closing her hand around it to stop the bleeding. "Thank you." She said quietly. Her expression turned cold.

"No problem, now tell me what happened. I won't have my apprentice terrorizing the new candidates." She turned to the man, Michal. Her features twisted into a look of anger that Aaron would have thought impossible on such a soft face.

"It was nothing." The stony look persisted, so the woman dropped the subject.

"If you say so…" She paused. "I'm Kalen Moes, head of operations." She stuck her left hand out in an invitation to shake, Aaron took it, keeping her injured hand at her side.

* * *

Alex had asked his unit to stay in the car, but they wouldn't listen to him. So the four men, and Alex, traipsed up to the hospital's elevator together. When the door opened, three of the doctors inside jumped in surprise, the only one that didn't, looked up to see what was the matter, and dropped the folder he had been glaring at. The papers inside flew everywhere. Alex sighed and bent down to pick up the ones that had landed outside the elevator doors. The rest of the unit ignored their reactions and stepped into the elevator, leaving Alex to pick up the pieces himself.

Suddenly the doors closed. Alex looked up in horror as the elevator ascended the hospital's floors without him. He dropped the papers, and sprinted to the nearest stairwell. Taking the steps two at a time it took him about four minutes to make it to the sixth floor. He threw open the door and raced into the hall.

When he reached Jack's hallway he noticed the crowd that had gathered around Jack's open door. Shouting was coming from inside the room.

Alex pushed his way through the crowd, shoving the injured and healthy alike to get to his guardian. He finally made it to the door. What was happening inside did not please him one bit.

Jack was out of her bed, kicking and screaming, with a red-faced Ben Daniels holding her down as she tried to knock Wolf over the head with her crutch. Her casted leg connected with Ben's shin and he gave a yelp. Jack was letting out a torrent of swear words in between her cries for help, while Ben was trying to calm her down in between his yells for Wolf to leave. The screaming was inter-mingled with the loud laughter of Eagle and Snake, who were supporting themselves against the wall as they were laughing too hard to hold themselves upright.

"Jack!" Alex yelled, as he rushed into the room.

Jack stopped kicking long enough to register who had yelled her name. "Alex!" She yelled back. Ben set her down, thinking that she was done, but a second later her casted leg came up between his knees and Ben was down for the count. "Bastard!" She screamed at him, then lifted her crutch to knock him over the head.

Alex looked over at Snake, Eagle, and Wolf. He pointed at the door and screamed. "Out!" None of them moved. "NOW!" And the three of them hurried out the door, Eagle and Snake still giggling. He slammed the door hard after them.

"Oi, where's Fox?" Eagle asked, when the giggles had finally subsided.

Together the three of them looked at the closed door of Jack's hospital room, where loud yelling was still resounding about the hall, their faces mangled with fear, sympathy, and surprise. "Whoops." Snake muttered, realizing they had just left a friend in the battlefield.

"This is all your fault." Eagle pointed his finger at Snake.

"No it's not, Wolf was the one who pushed the 'close doors' button in the elevator!" Snake said.

"But you're the one who remembered the housekeeper's room number!"

"You were the one who asked me!"

Eagle paused. "… so?"

"So, you were the one who opened the…" Before Snake could finish, the door to the hospital room opened. Alex walked out, dragging an unconscious Fox along the floor. He dumped him unceremoniously at Wolf's feet and stormed off towards the stairwell.

"Whoops." Snake muttered, suddenly realizing how royally messed up the unit's relationship with Cub was going to be after this incident.

"Shut up." Eagle said, running after Alex.

* * *

He he. I had to put that bit in, it just came to me and I knew I had to do it.

Thanks to...

SheWeapon1: I changed the name, how do you like it?

SkyRider: Yeah, I'll keep Alex, but all the emotional and mental trauma will happen to Aaron. After all, we are well on our way to guessing what her past was like and she obviously has issues left to deal with so it should be fun torturing the stories out of her. And I think I'll wait until the mission starts before Alex breaks the big bad secret to K-Unit. Maybe Ben should help him along in it, i don't know, but it will happen at the beginning of the mission I promise. Sorry but I did change it. Whoops!

Loz727: Awwwwwwwwwwww!! Thank you!!

p.s. PLEASE REVIEW!


	6. Carride From Hell

HELLOOOOOOOOO!

I don't know why, but I am rather happy tonight, hope you are too.

I thank all of those who reviewed (and shame be to those who didn't... just kidding) and here are my responses...

**BellaBooTwilight**: First of all, that is an adorable name. Second of all, that is sooo nice of you!

**SkyRider**: Thank you for reviewing again, and for 'loving' my story.

and last but NEVER least...

**SheWeapon1**: You always review on my story, and thank you very very much. And I agree, that was hilarious. I got the idea, and just had to put it up. I thought it was excellent and I guess everyone else thought so too!!

* * *

The half an hour drive to the airport was dead silent. The only thing that broke the silence was Ben's odd mutterings about a crazy lady trying to kill him. Alex ignored him. He knew that Ben had been trying to help, he had seen it on the man's furious face as he yelled at the rest of his unit while holding onto Jack, but Alex didn't much care.

After the rest of the men had left the room, Alex had tried to calm Jack down. She had finally settled, and then the time came to tell her he would be 'gone for a bit.' She started to yell about MI6, missions, and Conrad for some odd reason (he had been the only freakish villain that Alex had _really_ needed to tell someone about, so he'd told Jack), and then proceeded to yell at _Alex_. She hadn't done that since he was ten.

"You let them push you around, Alex! Stand up for yourself!" She'd screamed.

Alex had turned around, avoiding eye contact with Jack. For the first time he felt the numbness that had descended upon him after Ashe's death recede. Tears sprang to his eyes. Jack didn't know that if Alex stood up for himself then Jack would loose her visa, and he would loose her. Alex couldn't loose Jack, she was all he had left.

He brushed a tear from his cheek and turned around. Jack was standing, staring out the window, ignoring him. He tried to pick Ben up, who was too heavy, but Alex couldn't stand the silence between himself and his guardian, so he just dragged him out the door.

As soon as he saw his unit, Alex flushed in anger and humiliation. He got the very rational feeling that this was all their fault! He dumped Ben on Wolf and walked as fast as he could to the stairwell door, then sprinted to the car.

And now they were all sitting uncomfortably in the Navigator, an unconscious Ben flung across the back seat, Snake and Eagle comfortable in the middle row, Alex in the passenger seat up front and Wolf was driving. He was surprisingly good at it considering his hangover had only worn off a few hours ago.

"Sooooooo…" Eagle broke the silence. "Where were your parents, Cub?"

"Huh?" Both Alex and Wolf exclaimed. Alex looked a little panicked, and Wolf was anxious. He was the only one out of the group, besides Ben, that knew that Alex was an orphan. He had learned it from one of the men on his squad during the Point Blanc mission.

"They weren't at your house, where were they?" Eagle asked, fishing for conversation.

"They died when I was small." Alex didn't sound at all upset, and he wasn't. He had never known them and the recent obsession with his father had quickly worn off. Every time he thought about his dad's undercover work it made his head hurt.

"Oh, sorry." He said lamely. "Grandparents?"

"Nope."

"Aunts, Uncles?"

"I grew up with my Uncle." Was all Alex said, not really wanting to go into it.

"Where was he?" He looked relieved to find someone in Alex's family that was still living.

"Dead."

"But I thought…"

"Yeah, got killed by an asassin on a mission in Wales a few months ago."

"Godparents?" Eagle was getting desperate to salvage the conversation. He didn't miss the part about the 'mission' though.

"Ben killed him." Alex didn't let the relief show. He felt as though he should feel horrible that he was happy his Godfather was dead, but he couldn't care less. It had been Ashe's fault in the first place, he never would have died had he not joined Scorpia.

Alex watched in the rear view mirror as Eagle glanced back at his friend, a little wide-eyed. "Oh."

"How did that happen?" Alex glanced at Wolf in surprise. The man's voice was surprisingly gentle for the brute that he had met at Brecon Beacons. It was the first time Alex had heard him speak something intelligible since Point Blanc.

"We were on a mission together, and I kept trying to get information about my dad from him. They used to work together, my dad was trying to infiltrate Scorpia, Ashe was on backup and I guess they were friends. Turns out Ashe joined Scorpia, and then turned around and killed both my parents. He even sold _me_ out." Alex's bitter voice reverberated around the car. After that they all stayed quiet.

Alex liked it that way.

* * *

Aaron found it hard to believe that a woman as _perky_ as Kalen Moes could be head of anything.

As she extended her hand she gave a happy little bounce, letting the apprehension of a conflict between two obviously trained assassins glance off her. Her smile was radiant, her teeth almost as white as her dress.

Aaron shook her hand, keeping her own, injured, hand slightly behind her back. She had never liked the sight of her own blood.

"As Michal so blatantly said, yes, we would like you to join. And as Dr. Kovinoff said, there's not much of a choice, but we can't _make_ you do anything. And I'm afraid that if we tried, we would all end up with grievous bodily harm. So the choice is yours." She said matter-of-factly.

"You know what Kov said to me?"

"Oh… we had a talk before you met. I figured it would be better for you to hear that kind of information from someone you knew. People receive the fact that they can't do much to protect themselves better from people that they know. Whether you like them or not. Basic psychology."

"Huh."

"So what's your answer?" She bounced happily again, something Aaron was starting to get really sick of, and held her hands behind her back. Another psychological tactic, she was 'open,' not a threat… a friend.

Kalen Moes was anything but a friend. Maybe an enemy, maybe an ally, but never a friend.

Aaron mulled over what Kov and Kalen had told her. If it had only been a few people that wanted to kill her she would have said no, it was easy enough to protect yourself against a dozen people. But the people that wanted her dead numbered in the hundreds. If they didn't try on their own, they would pay as many people to kill her as they could afford. Many of her enemies were multi-millionaires, and had had long enough to fume over their misfortune to pay for tens of people at a time. She was a walking target, an unprotected one at that. Not to mention she was getting _really_ tired of working at Burger King.

Might as well get it over with, she would never be this agreeable again.

"Fine, but I need four weeks."

"Why?" Her arms came out from behind her back and crossed on her chest. Yet another psychological tactic (this was starting to become a bit of a game for Aaron, 'spot the manipulation method'). Now she was broadcasting her dislike of that idea, she was 'closed,' a threat… not happy.

"To put my 'affairs' in order. I have an apartment to move out of, a job to quit, if I'm not already fired since I _never made it to work_!" Aaron paused for dramatic effect. Kalen shrugged in a 'it's not my fault' manner. Oh yeah, that had been Major Stone!

"I have a tech to find, a partner to recruit, some last minute contacts to inform of my new change in status, and friends to say goodbye to." Aaron continued.

"A partner?" Kalen was surprised by that.

"Alex Rider, he was supposed to take my place. You know, do a few jobs in my place, show you he wasn't worth taking on and ruin your ideas of a reasonable career opening for child assassins. I don't think that's going to happen anymore, so I'll just drag him in to spite him. That sounds fun."

"I'll give you two weeks."

"Three!"

"Fine."

"Excellent, good doing business with you. Now… how do I get out of here?"

* * *

_She was lying listless in the arms of someone, being taken to a hospital in a helicopter. Something was wrong with her, but she couldn't remember what. _

_The thuds of the blades seemed to slow, the passing scenery that she could see out of the window turned fuzzy, her eyelids started to close._

_Something pushed hard on her side._

_She screamed._

"_STAY AWAKE!" Someone screamed in her ear. If she hadn't been so tired, she would have said it was one of the drill sergeants at the compound._

_She couldn't so much feel the pain that had made her scream, it was more of a bodily reaction. Her brain was feeling every twinge, but it wasn't transmitting it back to be processed. She was running on automatic, and her mind wanted to keep it that way._

_Her chest was getting heavy, like something was sitting on her. She could feel the compressions on her rib cage, then a pressure on her throat, and something soft against her lips. Something in the back of her mind repeated three letters over and over again. _CPR_, it took her a moment to realize what it was._

_Lifting her eyelids, which she had just realized were closed, she watched in detached fascination as two men bent over her, trying to keep her alive. One was pounding on her chest, expelling air from her limp mouth. The other had tipped her head back, and placed his lips on hers, breathing out into her. She felt her lungs expand. Then the other man expelled it for her. The process repeated._

_That's when the pain hit her. The memories flooded in. She screamed again._

"_Shit." The man that had been breathing for her was suddenly trying to restrain her struggling figure. "What's wrong with her?"_

"_OH GOD, oh god." She screamed in Russian. Her side burned, as if someone had stuck a piece of white hot metal through her ribs, and it was still there, burning her from the inside out. The piece of metal was a bullet, and it was lodged farther than in between her ribs. It had passed them all together, fracturing one, and had sliced open her lung, smashed through part of her vertebra, finally stopping when it hit her scapula. The tracer round was still burning inside her, and she could feel all of it. "OH GOD, OH GOD, OH GOD."_

"_Kid?" The man that had been holding her got on his knees beside her. His Russian was choppy, and his accent was American. He reached into a medical bag. "Fuck, we're out of anesthetic. Just hold her down until we get there." The man turned towards the cockpit. "Jason, how long until we land?" He said, using the headset instead of yelling._

"_Two minutes." He replied._

"_Just two more minutes, kid." He said gently._

_It was the longest two minutes of her life, but it was like a papercut compared to what she would feel when she got to the hospital._

_MUAH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!_

I think that's the first real cliffhanger I've had yet. Interesting.

So anyways, I've already started the sequel, even though I am nowhere near finished with this one yet, but I like it. The character development is WAY better than in this story.

QUESTION: Does anyone think my character, Aaron, is badly made? I can't tell, but she doesn't quite sound like what I want her to sound. Maybe I have to tweak her later on.

Thank you for reading, and please review!!


	7. Uncomfortable

Why hello, viewers! Sorry about the wait, but I had to get a few things out of the way before I continued this series, such as...

school

work

friends

But you will be happy to know that I am going to try harder to update, but my laptop just died, so that might not be as easy as I had hoped. Along with my laptop, my tv broke (won't turn on), my xbox 360 has the three rings of death (for the fourth time in the last two months, yes it was replaced every time, and yes, my warranty just ran out), and my mother deleted my media player, and it took me over two hours to find it and download it off the internet. You can understand how happy I am about all this happening in the span of two days. But I'm okay, really (refer to My Chemical Romance song, 'I'm Not Okay')

But anyways... thanks to

AleksandryaGregonovitch - you are too kind!

SheWeapon1 - thanks for the review... again.

For the sixth night in a row, Aaron woke in a bad mood. When she sat up in the chair, her hand went straight to her side. A phantom pain. As she pulled it away, she could almost see the blood for a second, but it was only her mind playing tricks on her. It liked to do that.

She tried to remember what had happened to her. She had been standing in front of that annoying bitch Kalen, when something had pricked her in the back of the neck. Aaron's hand went to her spine, searching for something to explain what had happened. Her finger brushed against a small scab to the side of her neck. Hypodermic needle, filled with a sedative. Typical.

Aaron was looking out the windshield of her car, they had placed her back where it had all started. She looked beside her and sure enough, there was her milk jug, just as poisoned and evil looking as always. Only now it was warm.

Eww!

She stepped out of the car, checking her broken window. It was completely shattered. Bits of glass were scattered inside the vehicle and had dug into the leather seat, jabbing holes into the material and ruining her interior. Her hand went to the bottom of her thigh. She yelped as her finger brushed a sharp piece of glass that had burrowed into her skin. Great, she thought, now I have broken glass in my ass.

She looked to see if there was any more damage, but the only thing she found was a ticket on the windshield saying that she had parked too far from the curb.

But she forgot all about the ticket when she saw who was sitting on her couch when she entered her apartment. "Who the hell are you?" She groaned.

The man was huge. Even though he was on the shortish side, his muscles were lumping away from his frame as if they were trying to escape. It almost made him look fat, but Aaron had seen the type many times. It was _all _muscle. He had smooth, handsome features, and his skin was deeply tanned as if he had been tanning for a month.

"I'm Wolf." He didn't continue.

Another man entered the room, hair wet from a recent shower. Aaron's eyebrows raised.

"Ignore him, he just doesn't like strangers. Do you Wolf-man?" He ruffled the bigger man's hair, who looked ready to murder. Aaron noticed a bump on the man's head, as if he'd been hit over the head with something very recently. "I'm Fox." He added.

Aaron took a deep breath. She couldn't quite get her head around the idea of two strange men in her apartment. In one day she had already gotten into a fight with an armed man, wholly signed herself over to a criminal organization that she didn't even know anything about, and now there were people moving into her apartment.

"Should I know something?" She asked, hoping she had just gotten the wrong room.

"I don't know, do you?" He smiled. When the young girl stared angrily back at him, obviously getting frustrated, he added, "Bad day at work?" Aaron looked at him. What was he talking about? Then she looked down. She was still wearing her Burger King uniform.

Aaron groaned and walked past them, realizing the men weren't there by accident. As she walked past the entrance to the hall, she noticed a bag with a seal on the front. They were special forces.

"That bad, huh?" He called.

"I just sold my soul over to the enemy, what do you think?" She yelled. She really didn't want to deal with this right now. But it only got worse.

When she reached the door of her room, she could hear voices from within. "_Holy crap!" "Wow!" _

Aaron burst through the door to reveal two middle-aged men digging through her sock drawer. "I knew she'd have something stashed away!" He held up a revolver, a dive knife, and an assault rifle. Thank god she hadn't put them in her underwear drawer!

"OUT!" She shouted, pointing out the door.

"You know, that is the second time a teenager has told us that in the last eighteen hours." One of them said, the other nodded.

"Get out now, or I'll shoot you in the foot!"

"Haven't heard that one in a while." The second man said.

"Yeah, not since Sarge." The other said.

"WOULD YOU JUST GET OUT!"

The two men scrambled to their feet and rushed past her. She stamped in, changed out of her work uniform, replaced her assault rifle (strapping the knife onto her leg with a brace and tucked the gun in the waistband of her new pants), and threw herself onto her bed.

Grabbing a pillow, she burrowed as deeply as she could, trying to get away from what had happened by hiding in the comfortable fluff of her bed. It was almost too much to take in. But she had to think this through logically. What was the next step? What should she do now?

She had already gained access to the organization, but there was so much that had been skipped in the rush decision. Before accepting any deals you should have a stable team in place. That team should have been comprised of a tech, someone who monitors and is in contact with the primary agent at all times, backup, a group of people who will bail you out if something goes wrong, and a controller, the person with all the connections and who will pull strings to get you what you need when you need it.

Apparently the backup part was already fulfilled, since there were four special forces men goofing off in her living room. But Aaron wondered if they were necessarily her's. They all had English accents, which reminded her of Alex. So they were probably there to protect the young MI6 agent, but Aaron was fairly certain they weren't just looking out for the young boy.

She had a fairly good idea who could be a tech for her, but the CIA wouldn't approve of him. Well, she'd just have to get around that somehow.

And the only controller in sight was herself. Playing both the primary agent and the controller would be tricky, but it wasn't exactly impossible. The Watchmakers might get suspicious when she keeps giving excuses for un-authorized phone calls to obviously important people, but she could make it work.

And lastly… Alex. She knew the boy was on the straight and narrow, and wouldn't abandon her at the last moment, but she barely knew him. Could she trust him with her life? Would they make it as partners, or would the team fall apart and be two separate halves working towards the same end?

There were so many unknowns that it made her uneasy just thinking about what could happen if something went wrong. Knowing a person could be life or death in a situation such as this, and all she knew about Alex is what she had learned from a few rumors and a two minute greeting session in which all she had found out about him was that he had a cute English accent.

And all of that was supposed to have been worked out before she had agreed to anything, which she had done, blindly, only hours before. Aaron rolled over on the bed and sighed.

So the first thing would be to put together the team. Then training. Three weeks was a short time to get back into fighting condition, not to mention it would take her a week to sort everything out before she could even think about physical conditioning. She had kept herself fit in the last few years, but her skills had gone into disuse and she hadn't pointed a gun in three years. She didn't even know if she could throw a dart anymore!

So what did she need now?

_Hardware_. She needed weapons, radios, computer tech and electronics, stake-out gear, and armor. Under _contacts_, she wrote; CIA, FBI, Jace, Kyle, and Burger King. She still had to call BK to tell them she was going on vacation. She had to notify Byrne about her decision, and Bob just _had_ to be told. Jace was a good tech, even though he was wanted for cyber crimes in eight countries and seventeen states. And Kyle was her old physical trainer, if anyone could get her into working shape it would be him.

_People_; well… there was Alex, Wolf, Fox, those other two freaks, Bob would be in, she would have to check with Jace, Byrne would certainly want someone to represent both the FBI and CIA in the operation, and Kyle was a possibility.

There was just too much to do, and she had no idea how to go about it. Then the thought hit her. The op would be run by the CIA, so what was she worrying about? They would provide her with everything from training to backup. She was wasting her time thinking of all this crap, and that was something she hated to do.

Aaron sat up and swung her feet over the edge of the bed, took a deep breath, then stood. She stepped up to her floor to ceiling mirror, checked the cuts from the glass on her thighs, which she had ignored until now, and stared at her bandaged hand. This was going to be a long day.

* * *

Alex had declined Ben's offer for a shower, after Ben had taken one, he was too worried K-Unit would do something stupid… like take a picture of him naked. It was best not to let his guard down around them yet.

Instead, he had opted for a nice walk down to the neighborhood bakery. The bakery just happened to be a Panera store, so it was packed with rush hour traffic. That was fine with him though, a crowd meant you could blend, it also meant more cover.

He had to stop thinking like that. _I'm just being paranoid_, he thought. Of course, being paranoid was not such a bad thing when you were in his profession, it had saved him from certain death many times, and hopefully this wasn't one of those times.

He made it to the counter and bought a cookie (mmmmm), finally making his way out of the store hoping that K-Unit hadn't started to worry. Knowing them, they were probably just happy to see him leave. Alex sighed. That reminded him of Jack.

Jack had never yelled at him, not since he was little and tracked mud in all over the house. She'd been furious. He smiled, seeing her face in his mind's eye, then frowned. She had been a different type of furious in the hospital room. She had actually been angry with him, not for something he had done but for something he hadn't. He hadn't said no.

Alex stopped at a street crossing. Why hadn't he just refused? Maybe MI6 would have been grateful enough to let Jack stay, maybe Jack wasn't worth all this mental torture that these missions brought him. But without Jack he would have no support. Alex shook his head. How could he even think of being without Jack? He was there as much for her as she was for him. They needed each other, and he wasn't the one to decide who went without.

The light turned, and he stepped off the curb. There was a pop, and for a split second he almost thought he'd been shot again. His hand went straight to his wound, which had started to burn. His heart stopped in anticipation as he looked down at his hand. It was dry, no blood whatsoever, nothing. He looked at the line of cars that had gathered in front of the pedestrian walk. There was an old Jeep sitting there, it must have backfired.

_That's some pretty spectacular paranoia._

* * *

Both Aaron and Alex walked into the livingroom at the same time, Aaron from the hallway, Alex from the door. They looked across the room at each other, glanced at the group of men sitting on and around her couch, and looked back at each other. They sighed.

Aaron couldn't help but notice how frustrated and pale Alex looked. She didn't know what, but something big was bothering him.

Alex quickly noticed the bandage on her hand and the way she favored both legs, rocking back and forth to alternate pressure.

"What happened to you?" He asked.

Her eyes narrowed, "Business."

"Oh." He said, a look of guilt on his face, "Was that my fault?"

"You _were_ supposed to be the one to take care of them…"

Alex looked about to say something, but Aaron cut him off. "It's fine, I'm sure you had a good reason." She looked away. "But… do you know them?" She pointed to the side, but stayed staring at Alex.

His face fell, "Yes… unfortunately."

The men showed similar faces of hurt and guilt. Alex glared openly at them, and they almost seemed to shrink under his gaze, all except one. Wolf looked completely unfazed.

"So what do they want?" Aaron asked.

"Why don't you ask them?"

"What if I don't want to?"

"Why?"

"Because they're creepy!" She whispered loudly.

Alex rolled his eyes, "They're creepy? You obviously haven't done this kind of thing before."

"Oh, I've done this before. I spent the first eleven years of my life as an assassin with a ruthless organization bent on creating the perfect criminal, I've met some pretty creepy people, but I've never had a group of special forces men sitting on my couch staring at me." Her eyes flicked towards the group. "It's kind of awkward."

"How did you know we were special forces?" The man that had found her gun asked.

"Assassin?" Alex exclaimed.

"Because you left your bag in the hall, and… yes, you haven't read my file?"

"It's classified." Was all Alex said.

"Oh, well… that… yeah. That makes sense." She pondered that for a second then surprised everyone, and scared Alex out of his wits. "Weren't you one once? I thought you went in with Scorpia."

"Um…" Alex started, looking terrified.

Fortunately, Ben jumped in to save him, "About that, it fell through. He's back on the good side, so no need to talk about it!" He jumped up and walked around the couch. The other unknown man looked like he was about to say something, but Ben flicked him on the ear. "NO! Bad Eagle." The other one opened his mouth, "Not you either, Snake!"

"That was subtle." Alex added sarcastically

"But!" Snake exclaimed.

"NO!" Fox yelled.

Aaron looked around, surprised. Didn't these guys know what Alex had done? After all, the SAS were known for their gossiping, that was probably where the news of Alex had come from, but yet they didn't know. "You don't…" She asked.

Alex shook his head, "No, they don't."

"Oh… sorry." She said guiltily. "Can I speak to you, Alex?" Aaron gestured to the hall.

He nodded, and followed her into the thin room, and around into her bedroom.

"You're an assassin?" Alex exclaimed.

"Ex-assassin, there's a difference." Alex's eyebrows raised. "Can we get off this subject."

"Sure, what'd you want to talk to me about?"

"Exactly what has happened since we met back in Byrne's office?" She asked.

"My housekeeper was attacked, so I went back to London. They never called me, so I just stayed there. Then my old unit from SAS training shows up to take me back here, and says you've been captured! What happened to you?"

"An old 'friend' tried to kill me, but these 'Watchmaker' people stepped in. I guess they've been watching me for a while, ever since I refused their offer. They took me to a building. I got some information out of them, but mostly it was stuff that I already knew. So far as I know, the leader's name is Kalen Moes, she has an apprentice named Michal, and they are more heavily in the scientific area than in operations. And their employee base is so small right now, they're recruiting anyone and everyone to join them, including a washed-up assassin and an MI6 agent. It's pathetic."

Alex smiled. "So, we're their desperate attempt?"

"Yup." She said, plopping down on her bed. She flinched as the mattress rubbed against the wounds on her thighs.

Alex noticed. "But more importantly, your hand is all bandaged up, you favor your legs, and you have a bruise growing behind your hairline, what happened?"

"Oh. Well, my 'friend' knocked me out with a punch to the face. He broke my window by the way, which is going to cost me a hundred dollars at least. Michal drew a sword on me, and my only shield were the bones in my own hand. After they knocked me out with a needle they placed me back in my car, with broken glass all over the seat, so now I have glass in my ass and it's not very comfortable."

"Do you need to go to the hospital or something?" Alex asked, looking worried.

"No, I'm fine. Although, there is a bit of glass in the middle of my back, if you wouldn't mind?"

"Oh, sure!"

* * *

Back in the livingroom, K-unit was rounding on Ben. "What do you know?" Wolf asked, staring intently at his superior.

"I don't know anything." Ben said flatly. He had the sudden feeling of being interrogated by his own unit.

"You know that Cub has rank, he was involved with Scorpia, as an ASSASSIN, and he knows about your shoulder wound. Don't tell me you don't know, Daniels!" Snake shoved his finger in Ben's face, pointing accusingly.

"Okay, fine. I've seen his file."

"That doesn't explain how Cub knew about your shoulder, Fox." Snake pointed out helpfully.

Ben glared at him. "I worked with him in Australia." He didn't elaborate, but then again he didn't need to.

"The thing with Royal Blue? Little Cub?" Eagle asked shocked. Wasn't that mission a bit dangerous for so young a child?

"You know, you guys don't give him enough credit. He's really good at what he does, you just haven't seen him in action yet."

"Seen him in action? He's a fourteen year old kid! What kind of action does he get?" Snake practically yelled.

"I've seen him take out a fully trained Mui Tai master in the middle of a ring, surrounded by men with guns. He's really good!"

The rest of his team was so surprised they didn't say anything.

Suddenly Wolf jumped to his feet. "I have to hear this from Cub myself."

He strode down the hall, Snake and Eagle close behind. Ben sighed, feeling like he had just betrayed his young friend. But what could he have done? He slowly got up from the couch and followed the other men. They had waited at the door for him. "Don't you remember what happened the last time you opened a door without permission?"

"That was different!" Eagle whispered mischievously.

"How?" But Wolf didn't give Eagle a chance to reply. He cracked the door and peeked inside. He grunted.

"Oh, Cub gets more action than we thought!" Eagle giggled when he stuck his head in.

"What?" Ben said, dreading what he would see when he bent his head around the corner. Sure enough, there was Alex, standing in front of Aaron, her shirt pulled up over her shoulders.

"Ow!" She hissed.

"Sorry! Just a few more to go." He stopped. Then bent back over her exposed spine. "I know you're back there you guys."

Eagle nearly fell over as he stumbled into the room, surprised. "How?"

"You're not exactly the quietest group of morons." Alex said darkly.

"Would you shut up and finish?" Aaron hissed, using the same pained tone as she had before.

"Cub, what are you doing?!" Snake sounded horrified at finding the two young people in that specific position.

"She had glass stuck in her back, and I'm taking it out." He jerked his arm back.

"Ow! Would you stop it, you could be gentler you know!"

"Why?"

"I hate you!" She sniffed.

"Don't care." He jerked his hand back again.

"You know what, I think I'm fine with shards of glass stuck in my spine!" She said angrily, grabbing the tweezers from his hands. She stepped up to mirror and attempted to get it herself, but as much as she twisted, she just couldn't reach.

Snake finally got sick of watching her fail. "Let me help, I'm the medic in the unit. Besides, Cub always was useless with first-aid."

"Was not!"

"You never even took the course!" Snake laughed. "You were only there for a few weeks!" The man bent over Aaron's back, gently prodding the glass with the tweezers.

"Well, that wasn't my fault." Alex huffed, but he stood back and let Snake do his job, standing in the corner with a half smile.

"No, it probably wasn't." Snake muttered, but Alex still heard. He only raised an eyebrow. "Do you have a needle, it would be easier to pry these out than pull." He explained to Aaron, she nodded and pointed to the top of her dresser.

"There should be a little sewing kit up there." Eagle stepped over to it and retrieved the kit.

Snake looked down at his patient. "So how did this happen?" He asked, not too happy to be pulling shards of glass from his charge on his first day in America.

"Broken window." Was all she said.

Alex elaborated, "Some one broke her window, knocked her out, then knocked her out again, and sat her back down on the car seat full of glass."

"Oh." Snake said, staring at Alex from the corner of his eye. "How did they knock you out?"

"Well, first he punched me in the face."

"Show me." Snake said sharply. She turned her head, allowing him to see the bruise. He pulled at the hair around it, mumbled a few things and said, "It doesn't look too bad, but just in case…" He tangled his fingers around her neck, looking for damage. "Sometimes, when you get hit hard in the face, your neck can get twisted around. You seem to be fine, but it might be a little tender for a few days. How about the second time?"

"Needle." She said, showing him the pinprick on her neck.

"Dangerous place to stick a needle, but they wouldn't have hit anything." By then, Snake had already plucked the pieces from her back. He turned to Alex, "You said the car seat was full of glass?"

"Probably, I haven't seen it, though."

"Do you have any other wounds?" Snake asked the girl.

"Now that you mention it… I mean, you are a medic after all."

Snake's eyebrows raised, "Okay, everyone out."

* * *

remember… she sat on glass…

So did you like it, did you hate it, does it need improving... come on people!


	8. Intruders

IM SORRY! I know it is the shortest chapter yet, and that it took over a week to write, but you will be happy to know that I am quitting my job! But I'm also going on vacation to Mexico... so the next one might take a while too, or not... either way.

Kudos to...

ri3er chick - Thanks for the long review, it was very very helpful. As to your concerns about Alex and Wolf... well, I'll get to Wolf soon enough, but I was trying to show how damaged Alex was by his experiences with Scorpia and MI6, but maybe I was trying too hard. And, I feel really stupid saying this, but what does ooc mean?! There's a lot of fanfic slang that goes around, and most of it I can understand, but I can't really figure out this one. Watch it come out to be really obvious... (rolls eyes at self). And I might as well tell you about Wolf, because it might not make it into the story for a while (you'll understand by the end of this chapter), he was already drunk when they called him in to work, hence the waiting game at Alex's house... they had nothing else to do, because everything was waiting for them in America.

Illusjon - Oh my god! I didn't know! Now I feel bad for pushing away readers... sniff. I changed the summary a bit, tell me if it needs more.

and finally... sheweapon1 - I know! The tv and laptop are still broken (proabably forever), but the xbox came back today, and I bought Ninja Gaiden 2, and Assassins Creed. It's excellent, but my favorite games are still Need 4 Speed and Kingdom Hearts... I'm such a nerd... ugh. But thank you for your continued support!

Thank you to all reviewers!

* * *

After the man, who according to Alex was named Snake, had pulled the shards of glass from her, they both walked out of her bedroom and into a slightly disturbing sight. Wolf and Eagle, on top of eachother, struggling for the controller. Fox was happily watching them fight, and Alex was standing against the wall, shaking his head. Snake was smiling too, but Aaron was inclined to follow Alex's example and disapprove.

Aaron sighed, dug in her pocket for her iPod and moved quickly into the kitchen, wishing to ignore whatever they might break in her living room for the time being. She just hoped it wasn't the tv.

She started digging in the fridge, finding thatshe had no milk, and not really wanting to go get it from the car, she had to opt for juice. She did have eggs though.

"It might not be such a good idea to blast your music when you're in the middle of a mission." Alex said from the doorway.

"Why? I have four fully trained English soldiers in my living room, one of which is a spy, and _you_. I think I'm pretty safe." She said after she had pulled one of the buds out of her ear. Aaron turned back to the fridge, "You want an omelet?"

Alex smiled, her uncaring attitude was refreshing, but he couldn't shake the sense that she was taking this too lightly. "Sure."

It was while she was cooking that she heard the noise. It could have just been someone climbing the stairs to the roof top, but not many people came all the way up to this floor. It was why she had chosen it. She had the only apartment on this floor, the rest of the space was used as storage for the upkeep and convenience of the residents.

Aaron's eyes narrowed, the way they always did when she was concentrating. Yes, it was there, but whoever was making it was trying to be quite. Not a good sign. She took a breath and bent low, touching the old floor, feeling the vibrations of the footsteps through the rickety wood. Her breath caught, there was more than one of them, how many she wasn't sure, but she figured it was around three.

She pulled out the handgun she had stashed earlier and hurried into the living room, "We've visitors." The four soldiers immediately flung into action, hiding behind chairs, pulling their knives. Alex took one look at her gun and cocked an eyebrow. Maybe he was wrong about her not taking this seriously.

He stood and walked down the hallway, grabbed the rifle that she had hid earlier (he had heard about its hiding place from Eagle), and strode back down the hall. When he entered, Aaron was bent over again, feeling the ground.

"They're taking it slow." She stood back up, and hid behind the door jam to the kitchen. "And I'm not _even_ going to ask why none of you have guns." She said darkly.

"We didn't have time, we were just as flung into this as you were." Fox grunted, realizing all too well the kind of trouble they were in, but he didn't have time to elaborate. A heavy thud shook the door. Alex rushed behind the couch with Fox, peering over it at the door, gun already aimed. Another thud almost knocked the door down, but it was definitely caving.

Aaron motioned for Alex to get his head down, but he didn't move. Damn him.

It was too late to yell at him, the people rammed the door one last time and came in hot. Aaron sighed as one of them whispered her name. "Come out, kid. We saw you enter your apartment, we know you're here!" She could almost see him smiling.

"Now, why would you be so mean as to knock down my door? You know I would have gladly saved you the trouble." She said sweetly, stepping away from the door and into full view.

He laughed, "By killing us?"

Aaron's eyebrow raised. "I don't do that anymore, but that doesn't mean I don't want to shoot you, so set the weapon down. Do it, Demitry." He didn't, but she hadn't expected him to.

Demitry looked around the room as his backup kept their fully loaded sights on Aaron. "And who is this? An old friend from the Academy?" He said, gesturing with his free hand at Alex. One of his men trained their gun on the new threat. "He looks about the right age." He tilted his head, and stared at him harder, not at all bothered by the rifle pointed right at head. "He has that same look in his eye." He smiled.

"No, but he's in the same line of work, so I would watch what you say. He might decide you're too much of a risk and waste you." Aaron smiled confidently, tilting her head the same way he had with Alex.

"Cheeky." He said humorlessly. That was how Demitry worked, he was all fun, guns, and games, until you disrespected him. Then he turned into a walking volcano, you never knew what would set him off. He aimed his gun again. "All I want to know is who hired you to kill Kim?" He spat, his face was grim, with a touch of sadness drifting into this gaze.

Aaron sighed. "You know I don't give up sources, and why would I tell _you_ anyways? You probably want me dead more than you want to kill my source. Leave while you have the chance, and forget about the past." _For your sake and mine_, Aaron thought.

"I will never forget what you took from me!" He screamed, followed by the deafening explosion of a gun discharging.

* * *

I am soooo mean. (smiles)


	9. Sniped

I know, I know. It's short... again, and I'm sorry... again, but I was sick... again, and on vacation... not again but still. Ugh.

KUDOS to...

Jusmine: It's good that someone told me that my review sucked, i didn't know. And i thought of that scene when i read Snakehead. "Ben killed him," was just something i had to put in! And since you asked in such desperation, i will try to put in more clues about Aaron... muah ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Thydude: Yeah, i thought there were too many 'Alex and company at SAS camp' fics... it got annoying so i thought of a new one. Oh... maybe i've read too many fluff stories where Wolf, Eagle, and Snake were funnier. I'll keep it in mind though when i write more.

and always...

SheWeapon1: I know i am... hehe. They're coming out with a second Assassins Creed? Sweet. I can't wait for Fable 2, now that's driving _me_ crazy!

* * *

"_I will never forget what you took from me!" He screamed, followed by the deafening explosion of a gun discharging._

* * *

Alex doubled over at his post, hiding behind the back of the couch. That sound had never been good, and he doubted it was now. He took a peek over the back. He stared.

Aaron was standing, wide-eyed, at a red spot on the wall adjacent her. Demitry was on the floor, missing half of his head. At first, Alex had thought Aaron was the one who had shot him, but after a surprised second he realized that the blood was in the wrong place. If Aaron had shot the man, there would be blood all over the door, and she wouldn't have that look on her face.

He watched her regain her composure, and quickly retreat behind the kitchen's doorjam again. He couldn't get her attention, but followed her gaze out the window. Someone was on the roof opposite her own, waving.

Alex couldn't quite explain the feeling that flooded through him at that moment. It was gruesome, this man had just killed someone, and was waving at the witnesses as though he did a good job. He had killed, in cold blood, and was proud of it.

"Get out of my house." Aaron said dangerously at the remaining henchmen. The quiet way she phrased it made it even more menacing. It was like one of Wolf's stares, only it felt more like this one would actually kill.

Demitry's henchmen didn't need to be told twice. They took one last look at their employer and rushed out the door, probably still thinking that the girl had killed him.

Alex glanced out the window again, but whoever had been there was gone now. He turned back to Aaron. She was leaning on the door, fists clenched, whispering to herself. She looked _pissed_! "Aaron?" He called. She ignored him.

How dare they? How _dare_ they, come into _my _home, and kill someone in_ my home_?! Aaron took a deep breath, settling herself. You just didn't kill someone on another assassin's property. It was insulting, messy, and you were always left with the police, clean-up, and a bad reputation. Killing drew attention, and that was the worst thing possible in this line of work.

She took another breath, this one was a little shakier because of the adrenaline coursing through her body, and looked up at her company, then down at the dead man. "Somehow I don't think my apartment is the _best_ of hide-outs." She ran a blood flecked finger through her hair.

PLEASE REVIEW!! (or i will explode) (u can't let that happen... can u?)


	10. Not The Best Place

Hello!! This is ur friendly and hopefully one of ur favorite authors... never mind.

hello anyways, though.

Kudos to...

Wolfmonster... I agree, and a lot of them are really good, but no one seems to finish them, and i wrote it and liked, then realized that it was a really stupid place to stay. So I shot someone. It seemed like a good idea at the time...

XxXmaximuM-RideRXxX... um, im not sure what u mean about the 'rest of the chapters,' but thank you.

Jusmine... aw thank you for not letting me explode. hehe, and ill try not to put up such short chapters. It's just that im taking a lot of hard classes this year and im having a hard time keeping up. Was he really killed in Cornwall? Huh, ill look into that.

white.black.truth.lies... finally someone thanks me for not making it romantic! I'd heard that that made all Alex Rider fans angry, i also tried not to make her a mary sue, though i might be failing. She does seem to be good at everything, but it's more of a survival trait than perfection.

and SheWeapon1... aw, i knew you wouldn't let me explode! Besides, it sounds like you like my story too much to tlet that happen. And i don't know how good this one is... it's kind of a filler. I was taking too long and decided to finish up my thought and post it. I like it though. And Fable 2 comes out like ten days before my birthday!! I can't wait!!

One last thing i want to say, I have a short story about someone from the 'academy.' I don't know if i should post it yet, or if it would give too much away. Do any of you want to read it?

* * *

_She took another breath, this one was a little shakier because of the adrenaline coursing through her body, and looked up at her company, then down at the dead man. "Somehow I don't think my apartment is the best of hide-outs." She ran a blood flecked finger through her hair._

"No kidding." Alex whispered, Wolf was much more colorful.

"What happened?" He fumed, staring at the blood spatter on and around his new charge.

"It wasn't her Wolf." Alex sighed.

"Then who the hell was it?" He yelled, turning on Alex. The understanding he had shown in the car was completely gone and was replaced by his old manner of 'yell first and have your team fill you in later.' Apparently, being the leader of the Unit gives you that right.

"I don't know, but he was killed by a sniper." Alex pointed out the window. "He was standing up there, I saw him."

"Fine, then _who_ was it? And for that matter, who was he?" He gestured to the corpse.

"An old friend." Aaron said darkly, anger glinting from behind her eyes. Alex somehow didn't think it was the question that had upset her.

"You seem to have a lot of very unfriendly old friends, kid." Snake said.

"Comes with the job." She said simply, then sighed, "unfortunately."

"NO!" Wolf steamed. "I want to know who he is, and I don't want any more of this 'mysterious, it's classified' bullshit! From either of you!" He added, looking towards Alex.

"Fine," she said coolly, "his name is Demitry, he was once the head of_ the_ Russian mafia, and I killed his wife." Aaron folded her arms together. "I don't know about the sniper."

"Take a wild guess, kid."

"It's Aaron, and… I don't know. If it's the Watchmakers, then they're even more stupid than I thought. They would be drawing attention to me, and at this point that is a very bad idea. But then again, they could have been watching me for signs of foul-play and saw this guy instead. It isn't the first time they've saved me."

"And when was the 'first time,' then?" Wolf sneered.

"In the car, when I disappeared. Didn't we go over this?" She shook her head. "I don't see why you're so worked up, it's not like _I_ was the one who killed him."

"The fact that you're a little kid and you're covered in the blood of a man who was just killed in front of you, and now you're calmly 'assessing the situation,' is what bothers me!"

The protectiveness in his voice shocked the room into silence. Aaron suddenly realized that it wasn't that Wolf was a grumpy person, as shown by his greeting when she'd walked in, but he was unhappy by the situation. Aaron couldn't say that she felt differently, but for entirely different reasons.

"Cool down, Wolf. They're doing their jobs, just like you. I know they may not look it, but they are good at what they do. Let's go deal with the police." Fox said, ushering the older men out of the apartment and down to the ground level to deal with any unwanted questions.

Aaron sighed and stared back down at the body.

"I never thought gangsters were ones to take revenge for long lost wives…" Alex ventured.

"It's not only his wife. She was the distraction. I killed her so that he would focus all his attention on finding the person who killed her, and someone else could successfully infiltrate the system. It worked, therefore I was the one who ruined his life." She kneeled down and touched his damp chest, then she continued to speak softly in Russian to the corpse. When she was done, Alex asked, "What was that?"

"Prayer."

"You're religious then?"

"Yes." Aaron said quickly, not wanting to answer the questions she knew would follow, but Alex noticed her uneasiness and stopped. Instead, he changed the topic to something that had been nagging at the edge of his mind the whole time he had been in Aaron's home.

"So you're really an assassin?"

"I used to be." Aaron sighed. Something in her eyes changed, they got darker, and maybe even a bit grayer… like Blunt's. But unlike Blunt, her eyes were filled with pain, suppressed and forgotten until someone reminded her it was there.

"What happened?" He ventured, thinking that this line of conversation was probably worse than the religion talk, but it was something he had to know if he was going to work with her.

"I ran." There was such finality in those two words that he didn't even want to pursue the line of questioning anymore. "What about you? Not many people are brave enough to double cross Scorpia, and you did it twice." She smiled indulgently, even through the pain that lingered in her eyes.

"Oh… I couldn't hack it, guess I'm too soft." He chuckled. "The rest was just survival, staying alive long enough get home."

"It's more than that! You're the famous _Alex Rider_," she shook her head in mocking adoration. "Don't sell yourself so short, you've saved the world, brag about it a little." She smiled, this time the happiness stretched to her eyes. Alex was suddenly very glad that K-Unit had left the apartment.

Aaron was still smiling, but then she realized where she was standing, next to a corpse, and what she was covered in and decided that this wasn't the best place to hold a conversation. She cleared her throat. "Do you want to continue this somewhere else? I don't usually stick around the bodies when the job is done, and I'm not liking it any better now."

Alex was glad she brought this up, because it was getting uncomfortable for him too. Even as he nodded his head, he watched her eyes. They were big, and deep blue. If he could actually say that eyes were the windows into the soul, then her's were room length, floor to ceiling with no tint at all. He could see every thought that passed her mind through them, either because he understood her more than any other person he knew or because she was just that expressive. But the flaw was just fine, because he liked how he could gauge her reactions, how she wore her emotions on her sleeve, whether she meant to or not.

At this moment her eyes didn't register the same pain when she joked about her past occupation. Maybe it was just probing questions that brought back the memories.

He started back to her room, noticing that Aaron hesitated before following him. Probably a little uneasy because Alex had stared at her too long.

As Aaron watched Alex walk down the hall, she couldn't help but wonder why he did it. Why did Alex work for MI6? Aaron had been forced to step into this world, and as far as she knew, so had he. But the pull didn't seem to be the reason that he stayed, it was some grudging understanding that people needed him, that kept him running. Unlike her.

She was and would always be tied to her criminal past. Once a killer… always a killer. She didn't like it, but for most of her life she had been killing to survive, whether it was the money or to protect herself, her last defense was death. Even now, she had to use her knowledge to stay alive, and she didn't think she would look back as long as she thought the person deserved it or that there was no other way. Which made the memories of her assassinations so painful.

The _wife_ of a gangster, the _daughter_ of a dignitary, the _parent_ of an activist, all were innocent, and if not then they definitely didn't deserve to die…

Aaron's mind shied away from the topic, but a last thought lingered. _I'm using death as a _tool_._

They passed the open bathroom door on their way to the bedroom and she spied herself in the mirror. She shuddered. No wonder Wolf was so worked up, she was covered in blood. High velocity splatter slashed across her skin and clothes like she had been in a paint fight… and lost... horribly.

Alex looked back when he heard her footfalls stop. He smiled inwardly, knowing what she must be thinking. He'd thought it once himself, though it had been harder for him because the blood on his hands then was a suicide victim's whose death was Alex's fault.

Aaron glanced at him, "Do you mind if I…" she trailed off.

"Sure."

She slipped into her room to grab a change of clothes and then rushed into the bathroom.


	11. Deep Discussions of an Awkward Kind

Hallo again, thank you to all of my reviewers, and to everyone who reads my story... but i wish you really _would_ review...

Kudos to...

Jusmine- sorry it took so long, and I thought it was a very Wolf thing to do, jump to conclusions and yell his head off until someone decided to stop him. Too bad Alex is there, or Wolf would get away with anything.

white.black.truth.lies.- This one is much more informative than the last, but there won't be that many revelations for a while, I think they'll be too busy...

and...

She Weapon1- hehe, i already pre-ordered it. IT'S GOING TO BE WONDERFUL!! I love Fable. The other story is more of a oneshot, but i think it will give too much away, so i'll just build the suspense about her past, then post it.

* * *

Aaron just toweled off, knowing that the sirens would be here at any moment

Aaron just toweled off, knowing that the sirens would be here at any moment. She was rewarded only seconds after she was done washing herself, the short bursts traveling up and down the street. She threw on a black tank and jeans, they wouldn't be here for much longer.

When she entered the room, Alex was gazing out the window, a worried little frown on his face.

"Don't worry, if I know the cops around here, they'll turn tail and run at the sight of four big guys like your Unit. They are your unit right?" She hesitated, wondering if he was part of their group or if they were just bodyguards. He had seemed to get along with them well enough, but that doesn't always mean they have a history.

"Yeah. K-Unit, actually. I met them when I was training with the SAS." He gave a tired laugh. "We didn't get along very well back then."

This was news to Aaron, she had never heard that he was SAS trained, or even that he was trained at all. Of course, her limited knowledge on the topic of English child superspys had not been a priority, until now.

"And then you went on your first mission?"

"Stormbreaker."

Aaron popped an eyebrow. "Interesting name, sounds familiar though."

"It might. London was going to get enough free computers to fill every school, from Harod Sayle, he'd created a fully interactive computer system and was giving them away. MI-6 doesn't trust people like that, and they sent me in to check things out. Turned out that he had a vendetta against the Prime Minister and had filled the computers with a violent form of Smallpox. He was going to spread it among the children in the schools. It would have killed millions."

"And you saved them?" He didn't answer. Aaron sighed inwardly, they were on opposite sides of the spectrum. She was the killer, he was the hero, and yet they both ended up with the same depressing story that they never wanted in the first place.

"So why aren't your friends armed. They're SAS, shouldn't they be more prepared?"

"You can't take guns on planes anymore, even in your checked luggage. They had to send them in the mail. They aren't here yet."

"What, the CIA didn't want to share their guns?"

"No… _Blunt_ didn't want to have to share with them, that's why K-Unit is here. You are being run by two agencies, and neither of them recognize that you work for the other. It's a bit of a tense situation between the CIA and MI6 right now." He was still staring out the window, unfazed that he was in the middle of a major hissy fit between the two biggest agencies in the world.

His expression changed. He laughed. "Wow."

"Oh, are they spray painting the cruiser yet?" She didn't get up to look, she'd watched them a hundred times.

"Yep."

"What are they writing?" She said dreamily, she didn't like the police any more than any other criminal, also rather happy for the distraction.

Alex watched as two boys readied their cans. The first boy had black, and wrote, "Pig." He announced after a second.

"That would be Eddy."

The other used blue and wrote, "Oink." Alex smiled, glancing at Aaron for her response.

"Gary."

"Gary?"

"Don't make fun of his name, he might try to beat the crap out of you."

"I could take him."

"Obviously, but you _couldn't _take his dad. Trust me."

He smiled bigger, and looked out the window again. A new boy was spraying in red, "Mmmmmmmmm."

Aaron's brow furrowed. "Kyle's out of juvie…" She rushed to the window, bent over it and screamed. "Kyle!" The boy waved back, then ran to his house slamming the door behind him.

"Mmmmm?" Alex hummed.

"Tasty." Aaron finished. The boy laughed, finishing with an embarrassed little 'oh god.'

"What about you?" Alex asked, his smile fading a little, but it was still plastered on his face.

"Well, I guess I was like a lot of kids." She started, eyes clouding, but Alex was surprised when that painful little twitch didn't show in her eyes. "Abused." Aaron glanced at him, but he didn't let his pity show. She lowered her head and continued. "Dad was angry, Mom didn't love me kind of thing. Then my neighbor got so sick of the yelling and screaming that he took a shotgun to the both of them, and rescued me." She neglected to tell him that her mother died in front of her.

"I went to a foster home, the family was Russian Orthodox. Made me hate god, that was for sure, but it was better than my old home. We got moved to an orphanage later on." She paused, losing the awkward smile. "Then, one day, _they_ came. The man told the owner that they were adopting. So, they lined us up, we took our turns, and in the end he chose me."

"You don't sound happy about that." Alex said softly.

Aaron looked him in the eye, that darkness had returned. "They weren't adopting, they were recruiting."

_

* * *

_

They loaded the bleeding girl off the helicopter, rushing through the doors of a little hospital ten miles from where they had found her. As soon as they got her in, the doctor's eyes widened in fear, and they all stepped back from the screaming girl.

"_What's wrong?!" A soldier yelled angrily. It was the one that had held her on the way here, the one who had kept her alive. Normally she would be thankful for that, but she was a little preoccupied at the moment. He pressed heavily on her wound to stop the bleeding._

_The other man stepped forward, conversing with the doctor in quick and fluent Russian. "He says they can't treat the children from the school on the hill. The owners would kill them and their families if they did." He winced as the girl coughed up even more blood. The bullet must have caught her lung._

"_You're a medic, right?" The man holding her wound cried._

"_But I'm not an anestisiologist, I could kill her anyway." He said breathlessly. "You would have to perform surgery without it. Not even you are that cruel, Reddig."_

_The man named Reddig paused. "Watch me." He growled. The other man was so stunned that he didn't even move to stop him from pushing the gurney into a nearby room._

_Reddig followed the subtle gestures of a worried looking nurse to an operating suite. He understood their fear, hated it, but understood it. At least one of them had led him here._

_He grabbed small little bottles from a cabinet on the wall, searching for some form of pain killers._

"_What are you doing?" The other man yelled, snatching a promising bottle out of his hand._

"_I'm saving her."_

"_No, you're torturing her. She could have spinal injuries, she obviously has fractured ribs and a hole through her lung. You know nothing about surgery and neither do I!" He yelled, his face barely inches away from his superior's. "She'll either die in excruciating pain, or we give her something to make it all go away."_

"_I thought you weren't an anestisiologist."_

"_I'm not, but it doesn't take one to overdose on something." The man whispered. Reddig nearly shoved him to the wall._

"_I won't let her die too! There has to be a survivor, somewhere in this mess." He stared at the girl, still squirming in agony. "She can't die." He said longingly, as if saying it to himself would make her heal faster._

"_We haven't heard from the other teams, I'm sure they've found lots of them. Just because she was the last one standing doesn't mean everyone's dead. She might have been stronger than the rest, but no one could stand open abdomen surgery without meds. If she didn't die of bloodloss, lack of oxygen, or from her extensive skeletal injuries, she would die of heart failure. Pain can kill, and this is the worst kind." He shook his head. Reddig sighed, running a bloodstained hand through his hair. He hadn't signed himself to the army for this, to let a little kid die!_

_A ragged breath came from the table. She had heard, eavesdropping on their conversation. "H-help me…" She gasped for breath for a second before she continued. "I can t-take the pain," _huff, _"just help me." She was still gasping._

_Reddig turned to his team member. "Samuels, help me, help her. Please." Even though Reddig was the leader, he hated ordering his men around. It was better if they wanted to do what needed to be done, but if he had to, he would._

"_Is that an order, sir?" Samuels hissed, disliking the situation._

"_Yes." Reddig said with finality._

_Another hissing breath came from the table. "Would you h-hurry up, I'm only d-dying you know." The girl huffed._


	12. Bad Dreams All Around

HALLO! Hehe, this is the first time i've ever updated from school... it's fun. But anyways, i'm so glad that my regular viewers have reviewed again and that I have some new reviewers!! You guys make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside (just thought you should know)! But anyways...

KUDOS to...

white.black.truth.lies... I always thought a good 'hero' should be damaged and act selfish, even though they are completely selfless. It's a 'denying who you are thing,' which is always sexy and filled with philosophical moments.

Jusmine... Whoops, hope that didn't bother you too much. I understand how annoying simple mistakes like that can be, but at least i'm not hopeless with it... it could be worse. Who _did_ say sarcasm was the lowest form of wit? That makes no sense to me, since sarcasm can be so informative... and funny.

Jade Taylor... Nice name, and good to know someone else actually has a pen name instead of a username... i felt left out. You should have reviewed earlier, I would have thrown in more K-Unit for you.

Bradhadair fire starter... Awww, thank you. I didn't know if anyone really liked her or if they were just reading for Alex.

and...

SheWeapon1... HOLA! COMO ESTAS? Hehe, i'm in first year spanish okay... sue me for being excited... but anyways, i have no excuse for being late-ish this time, since Fable 2 doesn't come out until October 20-something. It's so sad, but I have already pre-ordered it and am playing the pub games on xbox live. I'm such a nerd. And thank you, again, for being soooooo supportive!

* * *

Aaron quietly sat up, she didn't even want to think about the memory that had popped up in her dream. She put her head in her hands, dispersing the remnants of pain and despair. After her breathing returned to normal, she quietly got out of bed and exited the small cabin that was now her home. Sort of.

Actually it was the property of a SWAT training facility. Because she was top secret, the cabin was located in the woods surrounding the compound. Even though all the current trainees were sworn to secrecy, they thought it was a good idea to hide her as much as they could from the general populace. Her, and Alex.

After Wolf, Snake, Fox, and Eagle had returned from practically beating off a local cop named Hernandez, even though they had showed proper credentials for their weapons that had 'mysteriously misfired' and had done absolutely no damage except for a small 'hole in the wall' which they would 'fix immediately,' the team had packed up and sprinted away into the afternoon sunshine. Aaron had barely had to pack, since she kept an emergency backpack in her closet. The others had never _unpacked_, so there was no time delay on that account.

They had driven around for a while, aimlessly, stopped for some food, needlessly, and pulled over so that Eagle could cough up some bad Chinese, loudly. During that time, Aaron had made a call to Bob about what had happened. While they waited, Wolf thought it was a good idea that they keep moving, so they just drove. When Bob finally called back to send them to the training camp, they had already paid for two tanks of gas and some more food for Eagle. It had been an expensive and exhaustive day.

It was probably why she had had such a bad nightmare last night. Stress. She sighed to herself as she started running around a man-made lake located at the edge of the compound. It's sad when your own memories turn into your nightmares.

She ran the route three times, estimating that the distance was somewhere around five miles. Then she walked it once, letting her long unused muscles settle. After that, she stood on the bank and practiced Tai Chi. She hadn't done this in a while, but she found that it was still as simple as it had been back then, and just as peaceful.

Aaron closed her eyes as she breathed and moved in rhythm. She raised her arms over her head, bending one leg while breathing out. She held the pose as she slowly breathed in, then lowered both arms to chest level, bending the other leg. She breathed in. One arm faded to the side, the other stretching towards the water's edge, her legs spread slightly. She breathed in again. She didn't know how long she stood there, letting the ancient art stretch her muscles, making her more flexible with every move, and helping her calm down, but when she opened her eyes again, there were people running the same course she had taken.

She was a little disappointed that the lake had become so crowded. She was also a little embarrassed to be caught doing Tai Chi in front of highly skilled LA SWAT officers. Peace, quiet, and tranquility aren't big with gun toting police. It's not big with gun toting soldiers either, which were walking slowly towards her, ignoring the runners.

"What are you doing up so early?" Fox asked, the only friendly face in the bunch. His smile faded when he saw the unsettling stares of his teammates. Apperently Fox was the only morning person in the group.

"Hoping to get a little warm up in before I have to start training. How about you?"

"Just looking for you and Alex. Where is he?" The man peered around at the passing policemen, but none stood out at being fourteen and traumatized. He did get a few hostile stares though, but Fox ignored them.

"Probably still sleeping. I didn't see why I should wake him when he really doesn't need the extra training." She shrugged.

"You seem to be in fine shape now." Snake commented.

"I've been eating Burger King for five years straight, I think I have a few problems to fix out." Aaron said easily, trying to take the sting out of the condescending phrase. Snake had to agree. "You want me to go get him?"

"Sure, meet us at the mess when he's up. We have to meet our new seargent." Fox said, feigning enthusiasum.

She jogged up to the cabin, walking around it once to get her breathing back to normal. She wasn't expecting to see what she found inside.

Alex was on the floor, twitching and breathing heavily, his blanket hopelessly tangled around his legs. Aaron hesitated at the door, surprised. Then her training kicked in. She approached cautiously, trying to decide what was wrong with him. It wasn't a seizure, he would be jerking more. It was more like he was shivering, or struggling against someone who was holding him down. It reminded Aaron of her recent string of nightmares, Alex's would have been much more recent, and therefore much more terrifying. Alex gave a sharp cry, making her jump. Yep, it was a dream.

Aaron lowered herself to her knees and crawled carefully over to him. He cried out again, this time a little hoarsly. She was right next to him now, leaning over him, ready to wake him up.

His eyes flew open, his arm shooting up to catch her around the neck, but she had good reflexes. Dodging his attack, Aaron rolled back, ready to take on a confused and half asleep Alex. But despite his initial reaction, he recovered quickly.

She could tell he felt awful for lashing out at her, so she thudded gracelessly to the ground from her defensive position. "You want to tell me about it?"

"You want to tell me about your's?" He said tiredly, rubbing his eyes now that he was forgiven.

"Not really." She said bleakly, remembering the searing pain she had felt before she had awakened.

"Me neither." He said saddly.

"You're sure?" Aaron's burning curiosity was getting the better of her, again, and she almost admitted to her dreams just to hear what his were about. But no matter what she said, Alex would not give up his weaknesses that easily, and she didn't want to push him. She shrugged. "Fine, but your Unit is up at breakfast waiting for you. You might want to hurry."

She quickly left the one roomed cabin so that he could have some privacy. Something about his cries had bothered her. He had said something... something she hoped she had only misheard. Something that brought back memories that she had stuffed down so long ago that she didn't even think she could recall them, or that she would want to, and were now drifting back to her in her dreams. Something about General Sarov.

* * *

PLEASE REVIEW... NOW!


	13. And the Training Begins

HELLO PEOPLE. YES... I'M WRITING IN ALL CAPS... BECAUSE I FEEL LIKE IT, DAMMIT... HEHE. DEAL WITH IT.

KUDOS TO...

XxXmaximuM-RideRXxX - HAHA, YASSEN. I ALWAYS FIGURED YASSEN DIED FOR A REASON, SO I DIDN'T WANT HIM IN THE STORY. AARON SPENT A LOT OF TIME IN THE 'NORMAL' HUMAN WORLD, SO SHE NOW HAS THE EMOTIONS OF A 'NORMAL' HUMAN BEING, BUT HAS THE CALCULATING MIND OF AN ASSASSIN. BASICALLY, IT'S TEARING HER APART. SHOULD BE FUN TO WRITE SINCE I LOVE TRAGEDIES.

awesomnessnss - HEHE, NICE NAME. AND THANK YOU! I LOVE TO HEAR WHAT PEOPLE THINK ABOUT A CHARACTER I INVENTED MYSELF, IF ONLY MAKE SURE THEY DON'T MESS UP THE STORY.

Jusmine - MMMMMMMMMMM... EDWARD CULLEN... YUMMY. AND DON'T WORRY, YOUR RANDOMNESS IS WORTH WORSHIPPING.

white.black.truth.lies. - AWWWWW, YOU MAKE ME FEEL ALL WARM AND FUZZY INSIDE. I'M SO GLAD YOU'RE SO EXCITED ABOUT MY FIC!

Bradhadair fire starter - MUAH HA HA HA HA! I KNOW, I'M EVIL. BUT YOU KNOW YOU STILL LOVE ME!

SheWeapon1 - sniff sniff. you didn't review!

* * *

Alex exited the cabin, still pulling a fresh t-shirt over his head. He waited until the shirt was securely over his scarred body before he rounded the corner to collect Aaron.

She was gazing at the sky, deep in thought, but something told him that she wasn't daydreaming. From the frown on her face, he could see that it was probably the opposite... a daymare? He stared for a moment, remembering how she had tossed and turned the night before on the bunk above him. He'd been worried that she would fall off, and hadn't slept until she had drifted further and stopped struggling. According to Aaron's face when he'd woken up, and the fact that he was sprawled on the floor, his dream had been just as bad. Maybe even worse.

It was a good thing she had gone to bed early. She hadn't had any actual sleep in two days, since the Watchmakers kept knocking her out. Alex might never have gotten any sleep if she hadn't.

The sad thing was, he couldn't even remember what he'd dreamt of. He could feel the seething pain that had covered itself when he'd awakened, just out of sight, but he didn't know why he felt it. It wasn't physical, it was more an emotion than anything, but it was so strong that it made him sick to his stomach to think about it too long. The only time he'd felt that way in his career, and so far it was looking to be one, was when someone had been hurt by his decisions. Such as Sabina, when she had been dragged into the Damien Cray mess. Or Sarov, when he had committed suicide. He _had_ hated the man, but no one deserved to be so alone that they decided to end their life, and Alex had set him up for that.

"Aaron?" He asked gently, not wanting to startle her. He should have known better. Assassins are rarely startled, and Aaron didn't disappoint. She grunted, picking herself up, but she still seemed to be lost in thought.

They walked in silence across the compound, attracting interested glances from the trainees. They ignored them all, keeping a low profile and not dignifying the comments made by them.

When they reached the mess hall, they were surprised to find it mostly empty. It could only be 8 o'clock, but only a few stragglers and the trainers were left eating. At the far side was K-Unit, waiting impatiently for the rest of their team. Beside them were two people, wearing SWAT gear and were obviously ready to train their new charges. One of them was sulking, he was staring at his plate as if something would pop out of it and say 'April Fools,' or at least hit one of the Englishmen in the face who were loudly debating the pros and cons of the American 'police force.' He was torn between training a kid, and creating an international crisis by killing three SAS members and a spy. It wasn't a comfortable spot, and there was no doubt that he was going to get hell from the other trainers for having to stoop to training a 'spoiled, rich kid' who needed to learn 'self-defense,' along with his English 'bodyguards' who _obviously_ couldn't train him themselves. At least that was what he had been briefed.

On the other hand, the woman beside him was much happier. She had been told a tale of a young girl who was being pursued by a criminal organization and also needed to learn how to defend herself. The woman was _not_ happy about training the kid, but she was less likely to be made fun of because she was female, and the bonus she was getting would pay the down payment for her new car. It had practically set her beaming. Not to mention she didn't believe a word the government said about the girl. A 'criminal organization?' Please. She also didn't take their word that they were both already fully trained, but just needed a refresher course. Neither of them did.

"Finally!" Eagle huffed. "You two took forever... oh, and you missed breakfast." He said with a smile.

"Thank you for that, Eagle." Alex said darkly, letting his hunger color the disappointment in his voice.

"Welcome." Eagle giggled, and yes... he giggled. The rest of the Unit stared. "What?" He shrugged, Fox shook his head.

The male trainer cleared his throat, getting sick of the friendly banter. If he had any say in this kid's training, which he did, there would be nothing friendly about it. "You ready to begin?" He asked impatiently.

Alex eyed him, noticing the challenge in the man's eyes. "Yes, sir." He couldn't be any more demanding than the SAS, but it wouldn't do to antagonize him. Especially after the last time he had trained with professionals. Alex still remembered what had happened in the 'killing house.'

The woman got to her feet, lifting a heavy file from the table. "If you would come with me, Aaron." She said civily, but it was icy too. Somewhere below the nice, warm exterior, was the cold hard heart of a complete bitch. Wonderful. Outright hostility should could handle, the twists and turns of a woman's angry mind was not so easy.

Wolf pointed to Fox and Snake, then gestured to the departing females. The two stood and followed them, obviously dismissed by their team captain.

Out of the corner of her eye, Aaron saw Alex's teacher begin his lecture. He was staring intently ahead, everything forgotten as he concentrated on the words coming out the older man's mouth. Eagle was munching on a muffin that he had stolen from the 'closed' kitchen. Wolf was watching Alex with wary eyes.

Her own teacher cleared her throat loudly, calling her to attention rather rudely. "Yes?" Aaron asked innocently. The woman scowled.

"You're here because you need to learn self defense?" She asked hautily.

"Something like that. I hope they told you that I am already extensively trained, I just need a little endurence training." Aaron said good-naturedly. The woman didn't take it that way.

"Right." She said curtly. "Well, I'm Melissa and I will be your trainer for the next week. I don't like whining, complaining, or injured little brats. Do any of these things, and I will either drop your training then and there, or I will make your life a living hell. You get that?"

Aaron's eyebrow twitched. "Perfectly."

"Good. You and your friend will be restricted to the woods unless you have an adult with you. These two," she pointed to Fox and Snake, "will accompany you on your morning trainings, and escort you to and from your cabin. You _will_ wake every morning at five. You _will_ run for two hours, then head to breakfast. At 7:30 you _will_ report to me in building C to hone your fighting skills. After that I will decide what the day's activity will be. At one, we will eat lunch, and you will be given alone time to rest. At three, you _will_ appear in building D to do strenght, agility, and flexibility exercises. Five to six is resterved for stretching so you do not strain your muscles with your 'rigerous' new exercise routine. Six to seven is another rest hour, seven to eight is dinner, lights out at nine. Anything you don't understand?"

"No, I get it." Aaron answered.

"Good." The woman said. "If you are late for any of these times, I will opt out and quit your training. If you travel alone, you will be kicked out of the compound, and your training will end."

"Why can't we travel alone?" Aaron asked.

"Because we have people training with dangerous weapons. You'll see what I mean, you are scheduled to be taught how to fire a gun." She paused. "I don't like _that_, but it was specifically requested." She paused again, this time to gather her thoughts.

"Today we will only be doing tests to see how healthy you are, and what you already know. Please follow me." She continued coldly. The group left out of the front doors, traveling along a dirt path to another building.

It looked more like a warehouse, all of them did, but it followed the basic outline of a high school gym. The outside was monstrous, big and metal plated with no windows. The inside was bare, with concrete floors with some sort of cushioned sheeting on top, a few mats were scattered around, and on the East side was a wall of workout equipment such as; weights, resistance bands, safety gear for sparring, and a few rowers and treadmills.

Melissa led her to the treadmill. "Get on, I need to get a reading on your stamina." Aaron obeyed, grabbing the handholds when the woman started her off at a jog. Normally she would have started her off at a walk and eased her up, but Melissa just wanted to be bitchy. Without even waiting for Aaron to aclimate, the woman upped the speed to a steady run, and seconds after that Aaron was forced to sprint flat out. Her lungs burned with an intensity she hadn't felt since she had been gassed in Berlin for instigating a riot (fear and heavy exertion is not a good combination), but she wasn't easily deterred from the task. Besides, she wanted to see Melissa's face when she 'exceeded expectations.'

After a few minutes Aaron's breathing began to get heavy, and she was sweating like a pig. Even so, she was rather proud of herself for holding up this long, after all, she had been working at Burger King for two years and it had been three since she had done anything challenging. As she huffed another mile into the workout, Alex entered the building. He gave the innards of the building an unreadable glance, and his eyes rested on her. Aaron would have waved, but Melissa decided she wasn't going fast enough. Aaron was forced to reach out for the handlebars again, she had dropped them earlier to run more easily, so she wouldn't fall off the machine.

In the end she managed two miles at a dead sprint, more than Melissa could boast. The woman's face didn't let on to her surprise, but her eyes were subtly wider than before, suggesting that she was. Alex was on his second mile at a easy run by the time she came back from a five minute break. He was barely off his norm, and looked like he could continue like that for at least five miles more. Aaron figured she could do a little less than that at the pace he was taking, maybe more if she was motivated.

After that they moved to sit-ups, and push-ups. Compared to her records of 200 sit-ups and 70 push-ups, her puny count of 70 and 20 was depressing. Melissa smirked at her inadequite score, which make Aaron want to punch her in the face. They immediately left the warehouse and traveled along a gravel road to the outskirts of the camp. It took 30 minutes to reach the secluded, unpaved parking lot.

"Now to see your fighting skills." Melissa said smoothly. Aaron looked around.

"I thought these were supposed to be assessments. It's too rocky to hold a safe fight here." She said, glancing at the sharp rocks that made up the unused road. "What if someone gets hurt?" Aaron tipped her head slightly, it was a tactic she had used since she was a child to show her dominance. Melissa missed it.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you." She smiled.

"It wan't me I was worried about." Aaron mumbled. "There were mats back in the gym, why didn't we fight there?"

"It wouldn't be as interesting. Besides, an attacker will never give you the option of a nice, _soft_ surface." Melissa shrugged.

"Great, out of all the people I could get grouped with, I get the masochist." Aaron breathed. She sighed, but she knew that Melissa was right. There wouldn't be a cushy mat waiting for her when she gets tackled by a full grown, hostile, probably male, mercenary. But Aaron was more worried that she might injure Melissa. She had been trained to kill, and had only brief experiences where she had to take someone alive. Hopefully Melissa wouldn't push her too far, or make her angry, but according to how the rest of the day had gone, that was unlikely.


	14. BITCH FIGHT!

**Muah ha ha ha ha ha... the fight scene. I love the fight scenes! I just hope I write them okay.**

**Sorry it took so long, but I was stuck in my brother's room playing Fable 2 for four days straight... literally... no, I'm not kidding... **

**Kudos to...**

**.... yeah, I had to have at least one bitchy person, even though she won't really show up after this. She may get a few mentions later on, but thats about it.**

**talking-and-walking-thesauros... he... hehehe... thesauros. Why thank you!**

**XxXmaximuM-RideRXxX... hehe, I hope I kicked her hard enough for you! And I don't know, I try to proof-read my writing, but I'm now doing it on the internet, so I don't have spell check. If you want to beta it that would be great, but I can't figure out how to that thing.**

**sparkleglitz01... hello. And thank you _very_ muchness.**

**Bradhadair fire starter... I decided to go the route where Aaron just gets pissed off and knocks her on her ass. hehe, I hope I did it right though.**

**call me richardson... don't worry, she does. That and she gets a lesson in fighting decently.**

**Alexriderfreak... (blushes), awwww, you're so nice!**

**Jusmine... I'm probably just as random as you, so I understand your pain. Whoops... I am writing on the internet now, so I don't have grammer (ar?) check either. And of course Eagle would giggle! He's always the comedian, why wouldn't he do something as embarrassing and funny as that?**

**SheWeapon1... it's okay! I was just worried about you, I mean something could have happened to you and I would never know and that would be horrible!!! And thank you for all of the support!**

* * *

"Fine," Aaron said, glancing towards Fox and Snake. It was too bad she had to shed the confident sheen in front of them, but it probably wasn't a good idea to show them everything she could do, even though Melissa would hardly be difficult to knock out. "There are no rules, I'm guessing. And while I'm at it, I suppose the real reason for bringing me out here is so there are no witnesses. If this is a dominance thing..."

"Just shut up and attack me." Melissa said pointedly, pacing on her side of the lot.

Aaron hesitated for a second, then her face hardened. "No playful banter then." She murmered, taking an few elongated steps forward.

"Wrong, you're not even using a defensive position." Melissa called.

"Don't need one." Aaron said. The other woman laughed, Snake and Fox smiled at eachother, but looked a little paler.

Melissa swung a graceful and powerful arm out, hoping to catch Aaron in the face. No such luck. Aaron grabbed her arm right out of the air, swinging it around so that the woman had to twist the opposite way to get out. It left her right hip exposed, so Aaron quickly stabbed out with her knee, connecting with a soft thud. Melissa grunted, but recovered fast enough to grab Aaron's other knee and pull it out from under her.

As she fell, Aaron twisted so that she wouldn't land on anything sensitive, which had the added benefit of getting to kick Melissa in the face. Again, Melissa was quick to recover, clutching onto Aaron's leg and dragging her across the rough gravel. Melissa then grabbed her by the shoulders, pinning Aaron to the ground, her knees crushing the girl's hands into the rocks beneath. Melissa took a few seconds to completely brush off the jarring kick to the head she had recieved, so Aaron simply lay there, waiting.

By the time Melissa saw Aaron's little smile, and the quirked eyebrow, it was too late. Aaron brought up her knee, slamming it between her knees, and rolled on top of the woman. Aaron wrapped her fingers gently around Melissa's neck, careful not to squeeze. "You're done."

The woman's face turned purple. She ripped Aaron's arms away, and punched her square in the jaw. It was uncalled for, a breach in trust, but Melissa was infuriated by her defeat.

She yelled, throwing herself on the girl, who had dragged herself a few feet away. Aaron rolled to avoid her, and clumsily stood. She was still reeling from the punch. Melissa took the time to pick herself up also, but instead of recovering from her ungraceful leap, she stepped confidently forward, reaching for Aaron's elbow. Aaron barely noticed in time to stop her. The woman was trying to locate the pressure point in her arm, using Dim Mak to disable her.

Aaron waited until she was only feet away before she grabbed at the woman's head and lowered it to connect with her knee. "How dare you use _that_ on me? Are you an idiot?" Dim Mak was the opposite of acupuncture, it was used to cause pain, knock you out, or even kill you. Most often it was used as a torture tool.

Snake had noticed the slight of hand as well, and had taken a step forward, ready to break up the fight. Fox reached out and grabbed his arm. "Just watch what she does, Nick."

Aaron circled the woman who was now clutching a broken nose. "Don't pretend you didn't just reach for my Kote (translation 'inner-arm')!" Melissa's eyes widened.

"How do you..."

"Oh please, I could kill you in my sleep with those techniques, but they are protected for a reason. You DON'T use it on an opponent unless it is a last resort!" Aaron yelled. "I am not trying to kill you, I didn't even initiate the attack!"

"Stop playing like you're all _righteous_..." Aaron didn't listen to the rest, instead she reached behind the woman's neck and pressed hard in the hallow between the vertebra in her spine.

Aaron stomped past the two men, leaving the unconcious woman in the clearing, only offering the advice to 'let her wake in her own time or she would only end up fainting again.'

**_REVIEW OR DIE!_**

hehe, I'm kidding


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